The Mega Journey
by Super Shadowhenshin
Summary: With Master Xandred finally defeated Jayden Shiba leaves to create his own destiny. In a new town, Jayden finds himself against a powerful enemy. Under the guidance of Gosei he will have to lead a brand new team of Power Rangers. Learning how to kindle the warrior flame out of four inexperienced youth. All the while the young samurai learns what it means to be human.
1. Prologue: Samurai Forever

The street around the Samurai Rangers began to flood with the toxic Sanzu River water as Master Xandred arose from his prison.

"I can believe this is actually happening!" The Green Ranger exclaimed as he watched, completely mortified.

"We can't give up now!" The Gold Ranger said as his body blurred around and fought off several grunts.

"That's right!" Jayden, the Red Ranger said.

Next to Jayden was his older sister Lauren, who was currently the only one who could save them.

"How's that sealing symbol?" Jayden asked as he sliced into an oncoming Mooger.

Lauren's helmet was reflecting the intense glow radiating off her samuraizer. If it was possible to see past her armor one would see her pained expression. "It hurts like a bitch." The twirling kanji was slowly appearing in the air in front of her.

"You call yourself a Shiba, but you are nothing but a rat!" Xandred exclaimed and fired a wave of energy towards Lauren.

The Red and Blue Samurai Rangers leaped in front of Lauren and took the attack head-on.

Jayden ignored the burning pain because he knew whatever Lauren was going through was ten times as harsh.

His vision blurred around the nightmare known as Xandred. The monstrous red creature carried a grin on his meaty lips. He was smug in the way that all hellish monsters seemed to be.

"Now!" Lauren screamed as she drew the final stroke on her sealing symbol. The flaming kanji raced across the sky and hit Master Xandred square in the chest. The smell of burning flesh floated around for an entire block, and all the nearby Moogers were instantly vaporized.

Yet Master Xandred was still standing.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," The Green Samurai muttered. "Xandred should be ten feet under by now."

"I warned you," Xandred said as he stepped onto the solid ground. His body was still smoking, but the wound was beginning to heal. "You are a weakling, a complete and utter failure to the Shiba name."

The Yellow, Pink, Blue, Gold, and Green Rangers all rushed towards Xandred at once. Their sword hit against Xandred and bounced back as if they were plastic.

Xandred laughed, "Humans, you build yourselves up to be as great as gods, but you fail to realize how minuscule you actually are." With one swing of his blade, the five Rangers were knocked away.

Jayden looked at his sister, who was on her knees with red electricity running across her. "I think I know how we can do this."

"I-I can't," Lauren muttered. "That sealing symbol was our only shot."

Her hands clawed the ground.

"We're done for."

Jayden placed his hand on his sister's shoulder. "You're the true air of the Shiba Clan, it's your responsibility to defeat Xandred once and for all."

"How?" She yelled. "He's unstoppable! Even the Sealing Symbol was useless!"

Jayden knew what he had to do. He gripped his sister's shoulder as hard as he could. "You were trained for this moment. No matter what anyone says, or how anyone feels, you're the head of this family."

Jayden let the energy leave his body. It slid away like rain off the side of a tent and was absorbed into Lauren.

Jayden fell to his knees as his armor melted away. He looked down at the Samuraizer in his hand and noticed it was broken down the middle.

Lauren stood up, flames danced around her armor.

"You're little parlor trip will be wasted on me," Xandred barked. "Nothing you can do can possibly harm me."

"Let's see about that," Lauren said and rushed towards Xandred.

The Nighlok stood with his blade out, prepared to block whatever she threw at him.

As Lauren ran her armor swelled into an inferno. He wasn't prepared for what came next.

In a flash of pure morphing energy Lauren was transformed into the bulky armor of Shogun Mode. The power of her ancestors flowed through her as she delivered a deadly blow to Xandred's body.

Sparks ran through the cracks forming in his body as he screamed out in frustration and pain.

Master Xandred exploded in an eruption of fire and electricity. The blast was so powerful that it knocked the six remaining Rangers out of their armor.

Jayden fought the pain long enough to limp over to his fallen sister and offer her his hand. "I knew you could do it."

Lauren looked up at her brother and smiled. "Thanks."

Lauren pulled herself up and tried to get steady, though she ended up leaning on Jayden for support.

"We did it!" Antonio exclaimed as he hugged Jayden.

"But what about your Morpher?" Mia asked, holding the broken device out.

"Don't worry about it," Jayden said and offered a forced grin. "With Xandred gone the world won't need us to be Rangers anyway."

Jayden took the Samuraizer out of Mia's hand and twirled around in his palm. Master Xandred was actually dead. The Nighloks were gone for good.

And Jayden was trying to convince himself that things were bound to get better.

 **A/N: The plot of the Samurai Ranger's final battle had to be changed to better suit the narrative.**

 **Hope you enjoy what's to come.**

 **-Your friendly neighborhood Shadowhenshin**


	2. The Fateful Encounter

**Three months later**

The Shiba house was empty. Everything was silent and filled with strange navy shadows as Jayden walked through the barren hallways.

It had been a slow process, but eventually, everyone left. Now that the Nighloks were finally defeated everyone decided to move on with their own lives. They had a lifetime worth of dreams to fulfill.

Jayden fought the growing pit in his stomach. The sight of the empty house was making him sick.

He looked down at the bag he wore and felt a twinge of guilt. All his, life he had a reserved sense of pride. This had been boosted by the fact he had been training as the Red Samurai Ranger.

Now his time as a Ranger was over, and he was left with an empty feeling in his chest.

He took a step outside, thinking about the letter he had left on his nightstand. Would they understand why he left?

He certainly hoped so.

As Jayden felt the soft night air against his face he resisted the doubt building inside. A part of him wanted to be sad forever, even if it was just for the familiarity.

Inside of his pocket was three-thousand dollars, taken directly from the family account. He hoped that eventually, he'd be able to repay it, assuming that they'd ever talk to him again after this.

With nothing but his past behind him Jayden took his first steps away from the Shiba house, and his first steps into the vast unknown.

* * *

Vrak was utterly annoyed. The battle had been won, the planet of Rigal had been undeniably conquered, and now he dull part had begun.

The last remaining Power Ranger stared up at Vrak through his shattered visor. Pain and humiliation created a vile expression on his fleshy face. He was a Red Ranger, Vrak's least favorite color, but most appropriate for the task at hand.

Vrak lifted the Ranger up to his face and gazed deeply into his hateful eyes.

"You can play the hero all day," Vrak said with a scowl, "But that won't change the fact that everyone is dead."

The Ranger spat in his face and muttered something that was considered offensive in his homeworld.

Vrak carelessly threw the Ranger aside and let his limp body roll across the metal floor.

"Just give up," Vrak's insectoid general said, "I'm getting hungry…"

"Relax," Vrak said with an exaggerated sigh. It was deeply unfortunate that his father hadn't given Vrak troops out of his personal barracks because mindless robots would be far better for conversation than these disgusting Warstar.

Vrak walked over to the Ranger and repeated the process. "Rebellion is futile, we will slowly crawl closer to the heart of the Galaxy, and once we seize it order can be restored."

No words, just an empty stare.

"I'll ask you one more time," Vrak said, "And assuming you don't want your only legacy to be blood on a royal napkin you'll take my question very seriously. Where's Gosei?"

In a flash of brilliance, Vrak saw the man finally break. The remainder of his Ranger suit melted away, leaving the man practically naked in his grey uniform.

His lip quivered as he spoke. " _E-Earth…"_

Vrak smiled, "Now was that so hard?"

Before the man could manage a reply he was already in the hands of the hungry insectoid.

* * *

Stone Canyon, a small city that sat about thirty miles away from Angel Grove. It was quaint and tired, mostly consisting of elderly people who hadn't been swept away by the allure of the outside world.

Jayden found refuge in the isolation. The city was quiet from dusk till dawn, giving him the full opportunity to explore.

He often roamed the streets in silence, admiring the brick buildings and worn sidewalk.

That night was different though.

That night the gears of fate began their motion.

Jayden quickly crossed from street to street, having long abandoned the idea of looking both ways.

Unfortunately, on that night something decided to get in his way.

Jayden crashed into the figure in front of him at full speed. The two collided momentarily before falling backward.

Something snapped inside the former Red Ranger, a rush of adrenaline that propelled him back to his feet. Ready to attack whatever adversary blocked his path.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed and rushed over to wipe the dust off of Jayden's shirt. "I should have paid better attention."

Jayden stared at the dark haired girl in a pink sweatshirt for a few seconds before finding the right words to say.

"No you're fine," he said. "I wasn't looking either."

He found himself silently observing her, involuntarily sizing her up. She wasn't that much younger then Jayden himself. She was calm, completely comfortable in the presence of a boy she had just met.

"I haven't seen you around here," she said. "Are you new?"

"Yeah," he said and then paused, "Well not exactly… I've been here for a few months."

"Well did you graduate early? Because I'd remember seeing you around school."

Jayden froze, what the hell did that mean?

"I-uh don't go to school," he sputtered out, "I mean-I just haven't gotten around to it."

"So what do you do then?" She asked with wide eyes, "Do you even know anyone here?"

Jayden was fought the overwhelming urge to run away. Something unfamiliar was stirring inside himself, something raw and fierce.

He had no idea what was going on.

"Well I'm Emma," the girl smiled and held out her hand. "So now you know me."

Jayden looked at her hand like it was the talon of a hungry nighlock. "Jayden." He said and delicately shook it.

"Well _Jayden_ , if you wanna get to know anyone else, me and my friends go to Ernie's Brain Freeze every day after school."

Then as quickly as she appeared Emma whipped around and walked back into the night.

"That's four o'clock by the way!" She called out before becoming lost in the gloom.

Jayden stood alone in the darkened street, unable to fully understand what had just happened.

* * *

The spaceship darted across space like a wild bronco, dancing away from blaster fire with the grace of a skipping stone.

The small steel colored cruiser suddenly spun out as a blast of energy flanked its side.

The pilot of the ship hugged the controls like a long lost lover, their attention solely stuck on finding a way to stay alive.

The ship stabilized, but one of the engines was completely fried.

The pilot grimaced from under his black visor, another blow like that and he'd be space dust.

Not all was gloom though, he thought as he approached the large blue orb.

He was hovering right over planet Earth.

With nowhere else to go the pilot went in the only direction he had left.

Down.

* * *

"So you invited him _here_?" Jake asked with the straw hanging out of his mouth.

Emma shrugged, embarrassed by his loud remark. "He seemed lonely."

"He _seemed_ like a serial killer!" Jake exclaimed.

"Now come on," Noah retorted, "That's highly unlikely."

"Whatever," Jake muttered, "But when he sneaks up behind you with a knife don't blame me."

"Uhh...hey."

Jake jolted up at the voice behind him.

Emma smiled, "Hey Jayden, take a seat."

The blonde boy stood awkwardly for a few moments, his eyes darting between the two empty seats.

Jake grunted and put his backpack in the empty seat next to him, leaving the only one between Emma and Gia.

"Hey…" Gia said and looked up from her phone. "Nice to meet you."

Jayden kept his gaze on the table, as if afraid to even glance up.

"So Jayden," Noah said. "Emma said you just moved here. Where are you from?"

Jayden looked up at Noah but didn't immediately reply. Emma felt her insides twist, maybe he didn't want anyone to know that."

"Panorama City," Jayden said and took a sip of his own smoothie.

"For real?" Noah exclaimed, "Did you see any of the monsters? What about the Power Rangers?"

Jayden froze, a look of anxiety washed over him.

 _Oh no_ , Emma thought, _what if Noah just triggered some traumatic memory?_

Jayden seemed to force his shoulders to relax before shrugging.

Emma glared at Noah, and the young boy shrunk in his chair.

"What about your family?" Gia asked with a raised eyebrow. Emma couldn't help but wonder if it was the mention of monsters that had peaked her friend's interest.

Again Jayden grew ridged. "I have a sister, but she's still at home. At the family house."

"You have a family house?" Noah asked.

"So what?" Jake spat, "Who doesn't has a family house."

Gia rolled her eyes and went back to her phone.

"What about your hobbies?" Jake asked, "Have any interest in knives or swords?"

"I'm pretty good with a sword," Jayden replied.

Jake scoffed, "Yeah, I bet."

"Jake," Emma spat, "Can't you at least be polite?"

"What do you mean?" Jake sneered, "I'm just trying to get to know our new friend."

"You know what?" Jayden said and stood up.

Emma felt her insides churn, she absolutely _knew_ that Jake's tone had scared him away.

"I have to run a few errands."

Emma stood up after him, she wanted to stop him, but couldn't find the words.

But none of that would matter in a couple of minutes.

* * *

On an island a few miles out from Stone Canyon an underground bunker sat in silence, frozen in time for thousands of years.

Yet something began to stir. An ancient terminal ignited with life and began to pulse a red warning.

"Oh, my!" Was the first thing Tensou exclaimed as he was reactivated. "That's our emergency line!" The robot on caterpillar tires worried around and turned to a wall cast in shadow.

"Gosei!"

Two green eyes pierced through the thick darkness.

"That distress call…" the booming voice from beyond the shadows whispered. "It can't be…"

"That's not all!" Tensou exclaimed as the wall mounted monitor displayed the large incoming starship.

"It is the Warstar," Gosei said in a dark voice. "That can only mean one thing."

"Oh no! Not that!"

"Tensou," Gosei said, "I need you to bring me five warriors. Those that encompasses the true essence of the Power."

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that…" Tensou said and began to peck at the console with its thin metal arm.

"The time has come," Gosei said, "For the mantle of Power to be passed to a brand new generation."

Jayden was sweating, even in the cool air-conditioned air. The questions were too overwhelming.

After all, he had no idea where to even begin.

He needed to escape the situation, and as swiftly as possible.

He shot up, "You know what?" He paused, looking at the concerned look on Emma's face.

He had no idea what to say.

"I have to run some errands."

Internally the teen cringed at his own social incompetence, but at least it was something.

He moved to escape the group, doing everything in his power to walk without breaking into a run.

Of course, that didn't matter. Because as soon as he stepped off the small laminate floor of the restaurant the five of them were all enveloped in light.

Jayden landed on the stone floor and immediately sprang into a defensive stance. He did a quick glance around, trying to understand his new surroundings.

He was no stranger to the bazaar, but this…this was something else.

"What the hell just happened?" Jake asked, rubbing his back as he stood up.

"I'm not sure," Noah retorted, "But it was scientifically impossible," He looked down at his hands in disbelief, "and kinda awesome."

Jayden looked at the small square robot with utter disbelief. Even with the past year under his belt, this all seemed hard to take in.

"I apologize for the rushed entrance," A booming voice exclaimed through the cave. "But there is little time."

Jayden and the four other teens all turned to the giant silver and gold head staring down at them with its glowing green eyes.

"Um, excuse me?" Jake said, "Did that tiki just talk to us?"

"I am Gosei," The head boomed, "I was created by Zordon of Eltar to protect the Earth and the energy within it."

A monitor on the wall displayed a strange shaped craft floating in space.

"The Warstar is coming to Earth," Gosei explained, "And an important companion of mine has just crash landed. I need the five of you to bring him here before Warstar can capture him."

"Excuse me," Gia said, "I don't recall any of us agreeing to help you."

"I'll do it," Jayden said suddenly.

Emma stepped up to him. "I'm in too."

"Now wait!" Jake said, "How are we supposed to fight those aliens?" He said and pointed at the screen, "Because that's what it seems like you want us to do."

"I have reserved a power for this exact event," Gosei said.

Five devices materialized in front of them.

They were all resembled a more compact version of the giant face. Jayden stared into the green eyes of the device, in his heart he knew exactly what it was.

"With these, you will have to ability to summon great power. You will be able to defeat any foe. You will be-"

"Power Rangers," Jayden finished and took the device into his hand.

"I can not force you to take this responsibility," Gosei said, "But I heed you, the planet needs heroes."

"Well I love the planet, and I'll fight for it in any way I can," Emma said and wrapped her fingers around it.

"I suppose it's only logical," Noah said and took his.

Gia looked at Emma and Noah and sighed, "If I'm not there to watch over you two there could be serious trouble."

"Fine. Whatever." Jake said and snatched his.

"There will be many trails awaiting you," Gosei said, "But you must persevere, believe in each other, and may the power protect you."

And with that, the five teens were again enveloped with light.


	3. The First Battle

Jayden didn't know what was going on. He didn't really understand the aliens, or why they were suddenly invading the planet, or the relationship between them and the giant head in the cave.

But honestly, he really didn't care.

Because, for the first time since the final battle with Master Xandred, he had powers again.

The teens were transported to a lush forest, the sound of chirping birds and buzzing insects invaded Jayden's ears.

"So…" Jake said in the new silence. "We're in the forest, where do we go now?"

"My best guess would be that way," Gia said, pointing toward the trail of broken trees.

"This is so exciting," Noah said, "We're actually getting the opportunity to explore a spaceship and meet alien life."

"I don't know where you've been your whole life," Jake said, "Aliens are _never_ a good thing."

Jayden ignored the banter as he pushed forward through the thick brush.

At that moment the useless drone of their voices and his own inner dialogue was lost in the heat of the mission.

The group slowly approached the downed craft. Smoke slowly rose from its cylindrical back, which Jayden guessed was the engine.

Jayden was almost at a loss for words, the universe had just opened up its pedals and blossomed into something much larger.

He stood in front of the rest of the group, keeping a few feet of space between them and the square entrance.

The door fell open and an armored figure lumbered out.

His armor was similar to that of a Ranger, only seemingly more militaristic with a wide black visor and a red gem embedded in his chest plate.

He sighed at the sight of the group.

"You must be the new Rangers, thank god."

"I wouldn't be so thankful just yet," a voice growled through the brush.

The hairs on Jayden's neck shot up. That was a monster's voice if he ever heard one.

A tall lumbering shape materialized from the thick foliage.

The creature was a giant insect wrapped in golden armor with wide, curved arms.

There was a wave of terror so intense Jayden could practically feel it wash over the other teens.

But Jayden already had the device in his hand.

He moved without thought, propelled by pure instinct alone. The mouth of the device opened up and Jayden slid a card inside.

"It's morphin time!" Jayden exclaimed and slid the mouth shut.

A bright aura surrounded him, and an energy familiar, but vastly different flooded his body.

In a flash of raw energy, a Red Ranger stood in Jayden's place. His armor seemed to be a polar opposite of his Samurai powers. His pants were white and led up to a red jacket with a golden insignia on the chest. His helmet had a more defined visor and had the silhouette of a dragon along its sides.

The monster charged forward and the Red drew-

His gun?

He looked down at the weapon in his hand in utter confusion.

Well, he'd have to make due.

A blast of red energy shot from the barrel and towards the enemy.

And sailed right over its shoulder.

Jayden had no time to prepare himself as the golden scarab slammed right into him.

He was forced up against a giant oak tree, that creaked under the intense weight.

"Are you planet's mightiest warrior?" The insect asked with a raw and taunting tone, "Because if you are then this invasion is going to be a breeze."

Jayden looked towards the teens for support, but even Noah was having a hard time understanding the morpher.

"Put the…card," He choked out. "In the morpher."

"Put the card in the what?" Gia asked.

Emma looked down at her morpher and something must have clicked inside her. Because she opened its mouth and slid the card inside.

In a flash of light, her armor surrounded her, it was pink, with a phoenix on the side of her helmet.

She tackled the scarab, wrapping her arms around its waist and pulling backward.

Jayden was grateful, and kind of amazed as she managed to peel the insect off and throw it a few feet away.

"Hey, guys!" Jake called. "Help!"

Jayden looked towards them and his stomach dropped. While be had been fighting the insect a mob of green colored grunts had managed to grab hold of the injured warrior and were dragging him away.

He rushed to aid the armored figure, but the golden scarab had de-rooted a tree and swung it into him. Sending the Red Ranger flying backward and skipping across the ground.

With the captive in its grasp, the insect regrouped with the green, faceless grunts and laughed.

"Thanks for the cooperation," the scarab hackled before they all teleported away.

Jayden swore under his breath as his armor melted away.

He turned away from the group and began walking away.

"Where are you going?" Emma asked with a frown.

"Away," Jayden was trying to contain the aggression that threatened to boil over. "I need some time to think. Alone."

After all, they were all amateurs, he couldn't blame the failure on them.

"Wait!" Emma exclaimed.

"Just let him go," Jake muttered.

If she tried to speak again Jayden didn't hear it. He was already too far away.

If not physically, then mentally.

* * *

Vrak smiled down at the pitiful figure below him. The Black Ranger, so fatigued he could hardly stand.

"I suppose I should feel honored," Vrak said, "Not many are gifted with the opportunity to meet such a legendary figure in person."

"Might as well cut the bullshit and kill me," the ranger snapped, "Because I'm not going to tell you anything."

"Kill you?" Vrak asked with a pseudo defensive tone, "I would _never_ consider killing someone as high profile as you."

Vrak stepped off his throne and stood over the figure. "Besides, I know that's exactly what you want from me. _Phantom Ranger_."

 _Oh if only I could see through that hideous visor of yours,_ Vrak thought to himself. _I'd love to see the despair on your face._

"I know Gosei is on that little blue planet," Vrak said in a stern voice and looked down at the Phantom Ranger. "I will find him, even if I have to reduce the planet to dust."

The Phantom Ranger didn't speak, he just looked up at the Warlord, keeping whatever emotions he had hidden under his helmet.

* * *

Jayden slammed his wooden _bokken_ against the makeshift dummy made from a flat pillow hanging from his ceiling.

His insides still boiled. He finally got the chance to be a Ranger again.

And he messed up almost immediately.

The experience had shown him that he'd gotten soft, his instincts had grown rusty from neglect, and he'd need to sharpen them all over again.

Next time that scarab crawled out from whatever rock it inhabited, he'd be ready.

* * *

Emma took a deep breath, the cool evening air brushed against her face. If she focused hard enough she could hear the faint roar of the ocean from behind the forest, the feeling itself was so nostalgic it almost hurt.

She stood outside of the small log cabin her parents owned and occasionally occupied for a weekend during the summer.

Over the years it had slowly begun to feel more and more like home than her own house did.

She looked down at the table next to her, resting on top of it was the device and cards she had received a few hours prior.

For a moment she thought of Jayden, and the disgusted look he had given them before running off. The memory left a horrible feeling in her gut, one that she would do whatever she could do to prevent.

Next time Jayden saw her she wouldn't some amateur, she'd be a master of this mysterious system.

With careful deliberation, she lifted the device up and one of its corresponding card.

And she hoped for the best.

* * *

Tensou watched the footage of the Rangers with quiet anxiety. The Phantom Ranger was in the clutches of Warstar, and who knows what they would do to him.

The robot looked up at his master, but the ancient face was utterly silent.

Had they picked the right people to be Power Rangers?

Tensou wondered silently.

He trusted Gosei, knowing that his wisdom was passed down by the great Zordon of Eltar himself.

But what if there _had_ been some kind of mistake?

What if Gosei didn't even realize it?

Suddenly an alarm ran through the stone walls of the Command Center.

"Oh no!" Tensou exclaimed, "Warstar has returned!"

"There is no time for panic," Gosei said in a calm voice, "You must tell the Rangers at once."

"Right!" Tensou exclaimed.

He didn't know whether or not this was the best decision.

But he still had to trust Gosei.


	4. The Samurai's Struggle

_Years ago…_

The Shiba house was as silent as a tomb. Silver light poured from the window and cast over the young boy standing alone in the dusk.

Jayden took a deep breath and raised his symbol brush. His hands were wrapped in thick bandages, his face red and glazed in sweat.

Despite the pain, he kept going.

With a laboring breath, he summoned as much power as he could into the handheld device. Sparks poured from thin air as the energy tried to solidify into symbol power.

Before promptly exploding.

Jayden stood up as the hot whisps subsided.

He thought back to his father, and the sacrifice he had made to buy him and Lauren time…

He wouldn't waste even a second of that time.

* * *

 _Present day_

The scarab crawled through the city, relishing in the screams of terror as it flipped cars and caused as much chaos as possible.

At that moment it felt unstoppable, like a gale force of nature, an apocalyptic storm!

"It's morphin' time!"

The Red Ranger jumped down from a nearby building, landing right in front of the scarab's path.

"You've come back for another beating?" The scarab asked.

The Red Ranger was silent.

"Suit yourself," The insect said.

In a flash of movement, a mob of green-skinned creatures leaked out of a nearby alley.

Jayden dodged the first of the grunts and jumped into the air, running across an abandoned car.

He landed on the concrete a few feet away from the scurrying mob.

He rushed towards the crowd and broke into a roll moments before they met.

As the Ranger penetrated the crowd two of the grunts fell.

He jumped up and dodged another swung from the creature and its curved knife. There was a blur of motion and the creature collapse sideways.

The Red Ranger took stance, his wooden _bokken_ in his hand.

Another grunt blindly threw itself at him, but a swung that would make Babe Ruth jealous sent the creature away from him.

The scarab broke through the rank of green bodies and threw its fist down towards the Red Ranger. His fist hit the concrete and splintered it into gray colored dust, but by then the Ranger was already about to flank him.

Jayden wouldn't admit it but he was proud of himself. He had messed up before, he'd gotten to overwhelmed by the new powers.

He needed to keep things simple and stick to what he knew best.

His bokken crashed into the scarab's side.

And immediately splintered in half.

"Oh shit," He managed to mutter before the scarab swung its giant fist at him.

The Red Ranger flew back and crashed into a nearby building. A familiar pain shot down his spine. There wouldn't be any physical damage, but it still hurt like a bitch.

"That was a neat trick," The scarab spat, "But you'd need more than a stick to handle me."

The creature stood over Jayden, a cruel grin and a raised fist. Ready to slam it down and end the Ranger right there.

"Phoenix Shot!"

Moments before the creature could attack it was suddenly thrown back by a volley of pink energy.

Jayden looked up and was surprised to see the pink figure standing a few feet away.

"I figured you could use some help," She said, holding a large blaster in her hands.

Jayden stood up as the Pink Ranger approached, he took a step forward, looking straight at the stunned enemy.

He didn't know what to do, but he had to do it quick.

"The more the merrier!" The scarab said, jumped up and rushed towards the Red Ranger.

With his _bokken_ in pieces across the concrete, the Red Ranger was forced into pure defense. He dodged every savage strike, trying to formulate a way to counteract the creature.

Jayden mistepped and tumbled backward, falling against the back of a van. The creature took notice and pulled its arm back.

But was blasted again by the Pink Ranger.

"You can summon weapons using those action cards," She explained.

"Yeah, whatever," Jayden muttered. He watched as smoke slowly rose from the scarab's hard skin and he cursed under his breath.

It was insulting that someone like _her_ was doing so well.

"Comprethunder!" She exclaimed and slammed the mouth of her morpher shut. The device began to glow with energy and a bolt of lightning exploded from the device and blasted against the scarab and caused a bright explosion of sparks.

"Twistornado!"

A spinning whirlwind escaped the device and shot at the scarab. It surrounded him and flung his body against a nearby building, causing it to crack around his form.

The scarab pulled himself up on shaky legs before silently retreating.

"Thanks," Jayden muttered and walked past the Pink Ranger.

"Do you want me to help you learn how to use these cards?" She asked, holding one up. "They could seriously help you next time."

"I don't need help," Jayden muttered and walked off.

* * *

Scaraba was scared for the first time since arriving on Earth. He wasn't scared of the human Rangers, or the power that was used to overwhelm him.

He was scared of Vrak.

He was a figure of ruthless command and void of even the faintest glimmer of compassion.

He sat on his throne, looking down at Scaraba with something that could almost be described as annoyance.

"Well, what do we have here?" He asked, "A pathetic warrior that couldn't handle two messily Rangers?"

"Send me down," his mantis general, Creepox, said with a sneer. "I'll tear those Rangers to pieces."

"No," Vrak said in a dark voice, "Scaraba here is going to finish what he started."

"How?" Creepox asked, "By getting kicked around by those humans again?"

"No," Vrak said, "I've already prepared a countermeasure."

Scaraba felt his insides churn, something about the coldness in Vrak's voice was pure horror to the insectoid.

Several green colored Loogies approached Scaraba, gently guiding him away from the throne and towards a small empty hallway.

Scaraba swallowed hard, he knew well enough that he was heading towards a world of nightmares.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

* * *

"I can't believe you didn't tell me there was another monster attack," Jake said with a look of betrayal on his face.

"I thought Gosei had told you guys too," she admitted.

"He might have," Gia said, "I was at softball practice."

"I was asleep…" Jake admitted suddenly.

"So what did it feel like?" Noah asked abruptly, "To actually be a Power Ranger?"

Emma shrugged, "It all happened so fast…" She trailed off, her focus was slippery and she had a hard time even concentrating on the memory.

Her brain was stuck on Jayden.

He had seemed so frustrated to be saved, and she couldn't figure out why.

" _I don't need help."_

How could he say that when teamwork was such a critical role in their powers.

"Where do you think he is?" Emma asked the group, "Jayden I mean."

Jake shrugged, "Who knows. Skinning animals, setting live traps. Whatever serial killers like him do."

"I told you to stop doing that," Emma said. She could feel a knot starting to form in her chest, and Jake's negativity wasn't helping.

"Why should I sugarcoat this?" He asked, "That kids dangerous, and he's going to keep dragging you into more and more danger."

Gia looked down at the book bag, thinking of the device resting inside. "I think we've all been dragged into this danger."

"Oh whatever," Jake said, "For all we know Jayden and that tiki guy have been working together this whole time."

Emma opened her mouth, but Jake spoke out first.

"How else could he had have figured that device out so quickly?" He asked, "You're one of the smartest people I know and it took you hours."

"I thought about that too," Noah said, chewing on his straw. "And it got me thinking."

The rest of the teens leaned forward, looking at the young genius carefully chewing over his own thoughts.

"Maybe he's done it before."

"See," Jake said, "Even Noah thinks this guy is some kind of secret agent."

"Not exactly…" Noah said. "The way he used the suit seemed... naive."

Emma nodded, thinking back to watching him fight with a wooden sword.

"I think it's probable that he's been a Power Ranger before, but is still new to these particular powers," Noah concluded.

Emma thought this over in silence as the rest of the group discussed the possibility.

Somehow, it made a lot of sense.

It definitely explained his nonchalant attitude towards the whole situation.

And something else…

Something she had noticed before but hadn't been able to identify why it had stuck out to her.

"Hey guys," Emma said loud enough to disrupt the mini conversations they were all engaged in.

"Didn't Jayden say something about coming from Panorama City?"

* * *

Sweat poured down Jayden's face, covering his chest and back with a thick wet stain. He grunted loudly as his fists slammed against the pillowcase filled with sand hanging from his ceiling.

His _bokken_ was gone, smashed to pieces.

But he still needed a way to fight the Warstar.

His mind jumped back to Emma…

She had done _something_ with those action cards. It had been something similar to his own symbol power.

His muscles screamed for relief, and battle wounds squealed with reawakened pain.

But he couldn't bring himself to stop.

Under the thump of his fist against sand another sound arose, and he froze in his place.

Someone was knocking on his door.

Jayden felt an electric panic rush through him. Nobody knew where he lived, and nobody would _want_ to visit him anyway.

With extreme caution, he approached the door. His apartment didn't come with a peephole, so he'd have to open the door and hope for the best.

Before he could second-guess himself Jayden tossed the door open.

And nobody was there.

He looked around in confusion, there wasn't even the faintest clue as to who had knocked.

Until he looked down.

Sitting on the ground next to the door was an object that stirred strange emotions inside of the young warrior.

There was a sword and a note.

Jayden lifted the sword up, it was thick and carried a satisfying weight. It wasn't a katana, but he didn't really care at this point. He was just glad to have something.

He lifted the note as well. It was written crudely in black ink.

 **Meet at the park. Midnight. Bring sword.**

* * *

Stone Canyon was quiet. The pale light from the overhead streetlights transformed the entire park into something that almost resembled a dreamscape.

Jayden was in his zone.

He stood ready with his newest weapon at his side. He didn't know who had sent it, or what their intentions were, but he was ready for whatever was thrown at him.

"That sword belonged to a legendary warrior of planet Corbos," A voice explained from the shadows.

A figure stepped into the light, a being wrapped in a large brown cloak. The only visible feature was a thin smile.

"I gave it to you because you remind me of someone. A warrior of royal blood, cheated by an older sibling."

Jayden felt a sharp pang in his chest.

"Who are you?" Jayden asked the figure.

"Me?" The figure asked and stepped out of the light. "I'm just someone who wants to see your full potential brought out."

Jayden took a step closer to the cloaked man, but as soon as darkness fell across the being something else caught the Ranger's attention.

"You may have had that girl friend of yours to save you last time," The scarab said as he approached Jayden. "But it's just you and me now."

Jayden smirked and raised his newest weapon.

* * *

Emma was out alone that night. Her camera around her neck as she explored the city.

She walked casually down the street, just as she had on the night she met Jayden.

There was a beauty in this city. One she hoped to capture every single breathtaking glimpse of.

Emma stopped at a trash can. The way the moonlight overhead danced across its glossy surface was so mystical and unique she couldn't help but stop and draw her camera.

And as soon as the flash subsided she began to hear the sound of clanking metal.

A few days ago the might not have bothered her. It might have left her paranoid, but she would have just continued walking in the other direction.

But she couldn't do that, not with this twisting feeling inside.

She hurried down the empty street, past the parked cars and darkened windows, to a spot where the housing district met the business district with a large patch of grass to buffer.

The sounds intensified in the dead air, and Emma arrived just in time to see the spray of sparks erupt from the scarab beetle's chest.

Something glittered in Jayden's hand, reflecting a sheen of yellow light from the glow of a streetlight.

He had a new sword.

She watched with utter awe as the Red Ranger dueled against the insect creature. His moments were so sharp and precise as if the sword as an extension of himself instead of a mere tool.

It was then that Emma understood everything.

Jayden kicked the enemy down with a spin and drug his weapon across the enemy's chest.

Something about the beetle was off to Emma.

It should have at least _tried_ to dodge by now. But the creature instead took every blow like a punching bag.

Something was wrong, and she needed to figure out what.

"Jayden!" She called, "Stop!"

Jayden froze for a brief moment, but only long enough to bark, "Stay out of this!" then swiftly swung his saber downwards.

Something inside of Emma finally snapped, her fists tightened into white balls as she screamed.

"Why are you being so distant and rude? Why don't you trust us?"

"You're just kids!" The Red Ranger called back. "You don't know what's really at stake!"

"Well, maybe I'd know by now if you weren't such a fucking dick!" She exclaimed suddenly and immediately winced. Despite her boiling blood she wished she hadn't had to resort to such foul language.

Jayden didn't reply instead, he pulled his arms back and jabbed his blade forward with all of his strength.

The blade quickly cracked through that hard exoskeleton and into the insect's soft insides.

And that seemed to be exactly what it wanted.

The creature laughed suddenly as blue blood poured out of the wound.

"I suppose it's better I go out this way… it's better than having to face Vrak empty-handed."

The creature began to expel even more sparks than previously, with a thin trail of lightning spreading across its form.

Emma moved fast, she reached to the side and drew her device and an action card.

She just hoped this would work.

"Windrive!" She exclaimed and slammed the mouth in.

A wave of energy shot from the device and wrapped itself around the Red Ranger and tugged him back to Emma.

Right as the beetle exploded, leaving nothing but ash after the intense inferno.

The force demorphed Jayden as he crashed into Emma. He stood up, wiping fresh blood from his cut cheek.

"You would have just died if I didn't save you!" Emma exclaimed. "You're too stubborn to realize that was a trap!"

Jayden was taken back, his eyes wide and frozen.

As if nobody had ever scolded him like that.

He turned his face away, staring hard at the ground.

"We're a team!" She shouted out. "You need to let me help you! You aren't the only Ranger!"

Jayden was silent, stone silent, and seemingly in an entirely different universe.

Finally, he spoke in a soft voice, "Whatever." He said and turned around.

Emma almost reached out to stop him. But she was far too fatigued from all of the yelling.

She just wanted to crawl into a ball.

Jayden walked away, his shoulders sulked and his face staring at the ground behind his feet.

* * *

Vrak watched with mild amusement as the Red Ranger stabbed the blade into the insectoid's chest.

Through that quickly turned to annoyance as he was saved last second by the brown-haired Pink Ranger.

"That was pretty dirty," Creepox said. "Using your own warrior so carelessly."

Vrak laughed. " _My_ warrior? That insect is lucky he wasn't a spot under my boot."

Vrak tuned back in as the Red Ranger turned down his own path in silence.

He watched silently and planned.

* * *

A day after the battle Emma sat with her friends at their familiar spot. She held onto her drink and tried to stay awake. Having to go to school on the hour of sleep she managed after the night of chaos was more than a little taxing on her body and mind.

Noah and Jake were chatting meaningless about the newest Call of Duty game, and Gia was scrolling on her phone.

All of the teens were lost in their own world, while Emma was stuck reliving her battle last night.

Maybe that was how Jayden felt.

Not two seconds after the thought of the Red Ranger appeared in her head Emma found herself staring right at him.

Jayden approached with a nervous expression, a light scab across his face wound.

"What do you want?" Jake asked with a glare.

Jayden took a deep breath and bowed. "My name is Jayden Shiba, Nineteenth head- former head of the Shiba clan, and former Samurai Red Ranger."

Noah grinned silently but didn't want to disturb Jayden's sudden spectacle.

Jayden looked at Emma, and for a brief second the Pink Ranger felt her body ignite electricity.

"I'd like to work with all of you. I'd like to _teach_ you how to be real warriors."

He looked hard at them.

"Together," He managed to choke out, "I think we can defeat the Warstar."


	5. The Price of Paranoia

The hot Saturday sun beat down on Jake's back and cooked his sweaty face. His breath was raspy and labored as he rushed down the park trail.

"Don't you think-" He spat out, "We could take a break?"

"You don't decide that," Gia said coldly as the two jogged side by side. "That was the rule, remember?"

"Yeah," He choked out, feeling his breakfast crawling up his throat. "I remember."

The two continued forward, past a playground with children running around and enjoying the warm weather.

The smell of a freshly unwrapped burger broke into Jake's nostril, and he was done.

He threw up in the grass and almost fell over.

"Jesus," Gia muttered, "You should have told me you weren't feeling good."

"I tried," Jake barked and wiped bile off his chin.

Gia led the boy down to a nearby bench and let him cool off.

Jake inhaled as he recovered enough to feel embarrassed.

"Why are you even doing this?" Gia asked, "You've never asked to jog with me before."

"I figured I needed the cardio," He said, "Soccer tryouts are coming up." Which was true, but only half true.

"We aren't even friends."

"What do you mean?" Jake asked, "We've known each other for years."

"Yeah. Because you're friends with Noah who's friends with Emma, who's friends with me. That's not really the strongest of relationships."

Jake sighed, "I just need to talk to someone who might get it."

"Get what exactly?"

"Why Jayden is bad news," Jake admitted.

"Oh," Gia scoffed, "You're still stuck on that?"

"Of course I am!" Jake exclaimed, "The dude's insane. Emma is too nice to notice, and Noah just doesn't get people."

"So you're trying to hang out with me so I'll join your anti-Jayden bandwagon?"

"So you're saying you trust him?"

"No," Gia said, "But he's the only one of us that have been a Ranger before."

"That doesn't mean anything," Jake said.

"Then why haven't you used your 'morpher' or whatever it's called?"

Jake flushed red, "The time hasn't been right…"

And that was when they heard the first scream.

Jake jumped up, ignoring his nausea from moments before to rush in the direction of the noise.

The two teens stopped at a small grassy area of the park, where they found a picnic in chaos.

A woman stood along among the wreckage, her sandal crushing a half-eaten sandwich.

"What happened?" Gia asked.

"Jeffrey!" She exclaimed, "He was here one second… and just gone the next!"

"Gone?" Gia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Gone!" She yelled excitedly, "Like out of thin air!"

Jake looked to Gia, a cold feeling had sunk in his stomach.

"Maybe we should text Emma," Gia suggested.

"Is that more subjects I smell?" A voice boomed around the teens.

Jake looked up and a suddenly felt as if he had stepped into a low budget horror movie.

Because a brown colored flying saucer hovered above him.

The girl screamed before Jake could, and a large blue light shot down from the craft.

And suddenly the girl was gone.

"Well, I guess we know what she was talking about," Jake muttered, "But that doesn't really get us any closer to figuring out what the hell just happened."

"No kidding," Gia muttered her phone already in hand.

But before she could even start a text a strange noise filled the air, and Jake's heart sank.

A posse of green humanoid creatures had just arrived.

* * *

Yuffo smiled as the next batch of subjects arrived. The round device floating a few feet in the air expelled a bright light and a human female fell onto the metal floor.

She looked up at the red beetle like insectoid and began to scream.

"Now now," It said in a jittery voice. "There's no reason to be afraid."

Two green Loogies appeared behind the girl and grabbed her by the arms. She screamed louder and began to thrash around and attempt to escape.

It didn't work.

"Such complex creatures," Yuffo muttered, leaning over the female. He reached out with his thin skeletal hand and lightly touched her soft cheek.

"Don't forget your mission," Vrak said as he stepped into the room.

Yuffo froze, the sight of the warlord stirring dormant fear.

"O-of course… I almost have enough biomaterial to do a proper evaluation." He muttered.

"Good," Vrak said and turned around. "I'll be back in an hour to see your results."

 _An hour?_ Yuffo thought to himself in a frantic voice. There simply wasn't enough time to evaluate each human individually with a timescale like that.

The insectioid tried to swallow his fear and _think_.

And when the idea hit him he was left wondering why he hadn't thought of it all along.

* * *

"Gosei! Gosei!" Tensou screamed for the thirteenth time in the last hour. "You need to WAKE UP!"

The small machine paced around nervously, ever since his master had reawakened his time in the physical world was brief and often unproductive.

He feared that the ancient soul was losing himself.

The green eyes suddenly reignited with life.

"Yes?" He asked in a booming voice.

"A Warstar monster has arrived Earth!" Tensou screamed.

"Send the Rangers," Gosei said simply.

"Two are already engaged!"

"Send the rest,"

"They need more than backup!" Tensou pleaded, "They need guidance!"

By then the giant face was lifeless again, the green eyes blank and emotionless.

"Oh man…" Tensou muttered, "We're in trouble."

* * *

"Why did these guys even show up?" Jake asked as he dodged a swinging blade, "They aren't doing anything!"

"Sure they are," Gia said as she deflected an attack with a stray metal chair. "They're attacking us."

"That's not what I mean," Jake said, "I mean they should have a _reason_ for being here, not just looking for a fight."

"It doesn't matter," Gia said, "We need to get Jayden and Emma here asap," She moved away from a charging grunt and knocked it down with a kick in its backside. "Without any Ranger action, we're done for."

Jake punched a grunt it the head and sent it falling backward before kicking its replacement in the stomach. "We don't need him," Jake spat and threw one of the assailants down by its shoulders.

Despite his growing frustration, he knew she was right. The two were already starting to fatigue, and no matter how hard he fought the green creatures would simply get up as if nothing happened.

And that was when he remembered the small drawstring bag he had resting on his back.

"You know what?" He said and cleared some space around himself, "You're right."

When he finally found an opening he rushed past the group of grunts and ran away from the mob.

The grunts seemed confused, or at least that was his best guess going by their faceless heads.

From within the war zone, he could hear Gia scream something to the effect of, _what the hell are you doing?_ But he didn't have time to listen as he shoved his arm inside of his bag and felt around.

By then one of the grunts had collected its senses enough to begin its waddle towards him.

But already Jake had the device in his hand.

He looked down at it and tried to pretend he wasn't completely overwhelmed.

 _Morpher_ he told himself. _Gosei Morpher_.

He slid his card into the open mouth and slammed it shut.

"It's morphin' time!" He called out as energy surrounded him.

The Black Ranger jumped to the side as the green creature swung its weapon towards him. His armor was nearly identical to Emma's and Jayden's only the animal on his helmet was a snake.

He was immediately surprised by how fluid his motions had become. He was so charged with energy that his body seemed completely weightless.

If only he could use this power during one of his games.

Jake's fantasy puffed into smoke as he watched a pair of grunts grab hold of Gia.

He remembered what Emma had described to them a few days ago and retrieved one of the action cards.

He looked down at it with vague confusion, this card was nothing like the ones Emma had shown them.

"Oh well," He said and slid the card inside of the morpher. "Summon Battle Gear!"

A large black colored ax landed in his hand as he charged towards Gia.

With two powerful strikes, he sent the creatures flying backward with a rush of sparks erupting from their chests.

"This feels pretty good," Jake said as the last grunt faded fell and melted into a green ooze. "I'm just not the biggest fan if the color.

He looked over at Gia, and it seemed as though she hasn't even been listening.

In fact, she looked terrified, staring up at the sky above their heads.

And the brown colored saucer hovering in the sky.

This one seemed larger, despite the distance. It was probably somewhere in the ballpark of two feet wide.

Jake was about to ask what it was doing when the blue colored energy started to leak from it.

The two teens watched with horrified fascination as a circle of light escaped the object as umbrellaed outward.

Unfortunately by the time they understood what it meant it was too late to do anything.

The world around them shifted to a gloomy blue as the energy solidified into a dome.

"I guess I won't worry about calling Emma…" Gia muttered.

"Well," Jake said and demorphed from his suit. "What do you suppose we do now?"

Gia looked around, obviously uncomfortable. "I guess we gotta find out who did this and beat them up."

"This thing is so huge," Jake said. "How are we suppose to find anything it in?"

Lucky for Jake he didn't have to ponder that question very long because as soon as those words left his mouth the oncoming silence was replaced with a brand new possie of green-skinned creatures.

And their human captives.

The creatures surrounded a small group of terrified civilians, swinging their blades in aggressive but not threatening swings.

To Jake, it almost seemed like they were herding them forward.

Gia took a step forward, "Wait," Jake said and held out his arm, "Let's see what they're doing first."

"Are you crazy?" Gia said, "We need to save those people!"

"We will," He snapped, "I just want to _see_ what we're up against."

Jake was starting to doubt himself, but he needed to stand his ground. He needed to prove to Gia that he had what it takes to get things done.

Jake anxiously watched as the green creatures all stopped. The people stopped too, albeit much clumsier and crashing into each other.

And that was when one of the creatures arrived with a large device on. The creature held out the device and pulled it apart, similar to a camera tripod and set it on the ground.

Jake bit his thumb, he needed to be able to figure this out so he could jump into action and save everyone.

The creature then adjusted a few knobs on the device and it began to make a loud buzzing noise.

By then Jake knew it was too late.

The first of the people didn't even realize what was happening, they just turned towards the rest of the group and tried to interpret their horrified expressions.

Then they looked down at their hands-

Or what _used_ to be their hands. And only found disfigured organic lumps.

They then screamed out as their body literally melted in a way that could only be described as a wax figure standing too close to a bonfire.

Jake was utterly horrified as the rest of the civilians followed. Women, men, children, and reduced to a flesh-colored mess on the concrete.

By then the other grunts wearing large backpacks with hoses attached casually approached and began to suck the liquid up.

Jake felt as if everything below his chest had completely vanished, leaving a bottomless hole.

"Come on," Gai said and stood up. "Maybe if we follow those guys we can find out who's behind this."

"Yeah," Jake muttered, his hands turned into fists.

* * *

The Phantom Ranger may have been several floors under the main chamber, locked up alone in what was originally a prisoner barracks, but the walls were very thin.

The armored Ranger sat in a cross-legged position, the tired eyes under his helmet closed tight.

He reached out with his mind, crossing from the realm of the living and into the spirit world, to warn Gosei.

He knew their plan, and if Vrak succeeded the world would be doomed, even with the new Power Rangers.

The Phantom Ranger focused harder, but still found nothing.

His stomach fell as the realization hit him.

It was much worse than he thought.

Gosei was nearing the end of his life.


	6. Yuffo's Plan

Jayden and Emma stood facing each other, each of them holding a freshly purchased Bokken Emma got at Jayden's request.

The Pink Ranger struggled to keep up with the swift and often memorizing techniques being demonstrated by the former samurai.

Despite the difficulty she kept going, afraid of coming off as weak in front of Jayden.

"Perfecting each swing is more important then you might think," Jayden said, seeming to emulate someone much older than himself. "It creates rhythm, and rhythm gives way to synchronization. Two people working together must be able to sync with one another.

Otherwise, they're destined to fail."

* * *

Jake and Gia moved quietly through the empty street. Gia could feel an ugly feeling gnawing at her insides.

Her mind flashed back to the fate of the people she had witnessed several minutes ago.

"Maybe we can fix this," Jake said weakly, trying to sound hopeful.

"What do you mean?"

"Well from what I've heard when the Rangers beat the monster whatever they've done gets reversed."

Gia hadn't really thought about that, but he did have a point. She'd seen a documentary about a group of people that had been temporarily shrunk my a monster in Ocean Bluff and survived.

Still, that wasn't exactly being turned into human soup.

On one end she wanted to hate Jake for making such an idiotic mistake.

But in reality, she had contributed to it as well by not intervening.

The two ducked behind a nearby hotdog cart as a marching sound intensified.

Gia looked over at Jake, who reached for his Morpher.

But she quickly stopped him.

"We can't blow our cover."

He gave her a confused look.

"Just trust me."

The sound had since faded and Gia peaked her head up. The grunts had gotten about a block ahead of them.

These grunts also carried those horrible metal backpacks.

They were all heading towards the center of the dome, directly under the large brown colored saucer.

"In hindsight, we should have headed in that direction anyway," Jake said, "I mean whatever made this dome is probably the one collecting all these people."

The two teens continued forward, finding more and more carnage with each step. Flipped tables, abandoned bags of groceries, cars left with their doors wide open…

Gia looked back at Jake as they moved forward. He was definitely still shell-shocked, wide eyes, and embarrassed.

It definitely sucked that _this_ had to be the thing to break him.

Then the duo froze. When Gia first saw it she didn't even realize what she was looking at.

The small pavilion had been totally transformed, everything outside the storefronts moved and stacked in messy piles.

All to accommodate a giant glass tube, already a quarter filled with the nauseatingly familiar liquid.

Around the tube was about thirty green creatures, moving in jittery coordination.

And another creature.

The giant insect was bronze and blue, with a hard shell covering its body and its round, beetle-like head.

"Well considering this is the second beetle monster we've seen," Jake said and grabbed for his Morpher, "I'm going to assume he's in charge."

Gia nodded in silence, then began to try to formulate a plan. Right then they had the element of surprise, maybe they could fire from afar to dwindle their numbers enough to-

That was when the fresh mass of grunts arrived with several more humans, these ones alive and well.

It was too late for a plan, Gia should have noticed that _before_ Jake morphed and jumped out of their hiding spot.

She watched as he summoned his ax and charged headfirst into the fray, tearing through the green grunts that surrounded the civilians.

The Black Ranger fought hard, fueled by a fire stronger than a warrior's resolve.

He fought like a man trying to prove himself.

"A Ranger?" The beetle creature spat. "Well no matter, I've almost collected enough biomatter to run the necessary tests."

 _Necessary tests?_ Gia asked herself. The new Warstar alien was perplexing, clearly a being of some intelligence.

The creature took a step back and allowed a rank of grunts create a wall between it and the Ranger.

Jake didn't seem to notice, instead, he was blindly attacking any enemy he saw.

Gia saw the writing on the wall as the insect began to distance itself further and further from the battle.

And she knew she'd have to move fast.

She reached for her card and her morpher, sliding it inside the mouth of the device just like she'd practiced.

"It's morphin' time!"

Energy consumed her in a whirlwind of bright light.

The Yellow Ranger jumped out with a large claw-like weapon. Two grunts flew back in a spray of sparks. The weapon was clunky, but her natural reflexes, enhanced by the powers, did well enough.

"Wow," Jake said, "Yellow looks good on you!"

"Whatever," She said and kicked back another grunt, clearing a space for her to charge right for the beetle.

"Cover me," She said, preparing to charge.

"Loogies," The beetle said in a sly voice, "Grab the subjects and prepare for teleportation."

"Wait did it say Loogies?" Jake asked with a shudder, then saw the green "Loogies" grabbing for the people still lingering in the area. Jake couldn't help but go after them.

"No!" Gia barked, "That's the wrong way!"

She tried to fight off the approaching grunts alone and regain her distance towards the insect creature. But the opportunity was already lost, and the beetle teleported away in a flash of light.

The rest of the Loogies disappeared as well, but thankfully none of them were holding any people when they disappeared.

"Well that was sudden," Jake said.

"What the hell was that?" Gia asked.

"What do you mean? I just saved all those people."

"But you didn't listen to me," The Yellow Ranger said, "I _told_ you to cover me."

"Didn't you hear me?" He asked, "I _saved_ these people."

"Whatever!" Gia spat and turned around.

"Where are you going?" Jake asked as she started to walk away.

" _Someone_ has to find a way out of this dome," Yellow said.

"Who the hell put you in charge?"

Gia clenched her fists together, "Look at that jar, it would be a lot more empty if I had taken charge sooner."

Jake stopped in his tracks.

She'd probably feel bad about being so rude to him later, but at that moment it was the only thing she could do to stop herself from shoving her fist into his helmeted face.

* * *

The Black Ranger watched the Yellow Ranger disappear into the mess of building that had been snared into the dome.

He wanted to follow, but her words had burned a sickly feeling into his guts, rendering him almost immobile.

He felt completely directionless. This whole time he'd been trying to play hero, just like , but all he got was disaster.

His eyes locked on the horrid flesh-colored fluid and stood in silence. Tentacles crawled around his guts and played with his organs, throwing them around in a nauseating game of catch.

"Thank you so much!" A man in a green shirt and tan slacks said. "When those green freaks got me I thought I was minced meat!"

"Heh," Jake grunted, rubbing the back of his helmet, "Yeah, no problem man."

Under his helmet, Jake could feel his face getting hotter, and for a moment it felt like whatever was assaulting his insides had just been dumped in ice.

"Hey!" A teenage boy exclaimed, "I watched my mom get turned into slime, what the hell are you going to do to fix that?"

"I-uh…" The Ranger said, he looked up towards the group he had saved, their faces ragged and tired.

Their world had just been shattered, and they needed answers.

"And what about this giant dome?" The same boy asked. "How do I know you didn't put it up to try and trap that monster?"

Jake took a step back, he knew the look the boy was giving him well enough. He'd seen that same look on classmates face's before they started throwing punches.

"That's ridiculous," The man replied, "I know that you're scared but that's no reason to be stupid."

The man turned to Jake and offered a wink.

The Black Ranger didn't know _exactly_ what that meant, but he assumed it was a good sign.

The boy took a step back and Jake let out a sigh of relief, the outburst had at least managed to cool him down.

But the universe wouldn't allow for more than a few seconds of peace, and a loud crashing noise erupted from the east, a place Jake could only guess was the bowling alley.

For some reason, he couldn't help but figure that was where Gia had ended up.

"You better take care of that," the man said and nudged Jake with his elbow. "I'll get everyone here to somewhere safe, and you can do your thing."

Jake nodded at the man, how was he so calm and seemingly unfazed by the chaos?

"Right," Jake said and headed out. He was sure that Gia was still mad.

But maybe if he saved her life she'd loosen up a bit.

* * *

Yuffo exhaled as he finished constructing the small terminal system in the corner of the room.

He had hoped that it would be possible to set it up closer to the other containment units-

But he'd also hoped that his dome would be able to keep the Power Rangers out…

At the very least Yuffo was thankful that he could teleport anywhere within his dome, so as long as that remained up he'd have the upper hand.

With everything else set up, the beetle connected the containment unit to the terminal and clicked a few noisy keys.

It was possible that he'd have enough biomass to finish with what was inside this unit alone.

That would definitely be good news.

Yuffo's concentration was suddenly broken by a loud thud. He looked up to see one of the Loogies falling backward from the force of a bowling ball against its head.

Damn it!

"Long time no see, Beetlejuice," The Yellow Ranger said, standing with her hands on her hips.

Yuffo grunted, his first instinct was to flee again, but then he looked towards the terminal. If he left now the Ranger would probably disrupt the process.

Yuffo feared he may have to take arms against the Ranger.

Thankfully the Loogies were smart enough to begin a countercharge, rushing towards the Ranger blindly in an attempt to overwhelm her.

For a second it seemed to be working, her weapon was large and cumbersome, and because of that, she was only able to take out a couple of the Loogies with each laborious swing.

But she was quickly adapting, she was watching the Loogies and learning their patterns to maximize each swing.

Clearly, he was going to need a more abrasive strategy.

Inspiration came while looking up towards a large metal rafter, it was rather lucky for him that human architecture was so archaic. Yuffo channeled all of his available energy into his face and looked up, firing a blinding blue laser right at the rafter.

The metal melted instantly, and the roof collapsed right over Yellow Ranger's head.

* * *

For the second time in Gia Moran's relatively short life, she was sure she'd die.

It happened to fast to prevent, the roof was falling before the sound even rang out.

Her tomb was sealed before she'd even been buried.

Darkness came, along with a splitting pain in her chest from a piece of metal that would probably be impaling her if not for the yellow armor around her.

Armor that was moments away from failing.

She held on with every ounce of strength inside to maintain her morph, but even without the strain, she could feel it beginning to slip…

Suddenly the weight pressing down on her began to lessen.

"Well you look like you need some help," a voice from above said as a ray light poked through the darkness.

For probably the first time in her life, she was happy to see Jake.

* * *

The Black Ranger pulled up the large chunks of rubble as if they were wooden planks.

He had to admit, there was a whole lot of junk covering Gia. If not for the yellow tip of her boot sticking out of the mess it would have been impossible to know she was even in there.

"Well you look like you need some help," He muttered as he moved another piece of metal, allowing him to see a tiny fragment of her visor.

By then a few Loogies had recognized his presence and began to move towards him, but a quick shot from his blaster sent them out of commission.

"What the hell was that?" Gia screamed through the broken metal.

"Nothing!" Jake called back, trying to uncover more of her form before more Loogies appeared.

"You Rangers are definitely persistent," The beetle creature said from the other side of the bowling alley. "You are like _rodents_ crawling across the cracks of this world, filthy and disgusting."

"No offense dude, but I think you mean _insects_ ," Jake said and tossed his ax right at the creature.

The giant slab of metal twirled in the air, spinning like a windmill directly towards the insect creature's head.

But the enemy ducked last second and the ax continued spinning-

Before getting wedged right into the large flat screen monitor of the terminal.

"God damn," The Black Ranger muttered, "That was a total waste."

Fortunately, the Black Ranger's dismay was quickly disrupted by a horrible screeching noise which was followed by a thin blue beam of energy shooting from the beetle's eyes and punching him in the chest.

Jake flew back and hit against one of the building's remaining walls with enough force to cause small glowing cracks in his armor.

"You savage!" The beetle proclaimed, "You absolutely imbecile! You- you wallydraigle! You've doomed my very existence!"

"What the hell did you just call me?" Jake asked, holding his wounded chest, which was consumed by a horrid burning.

The beetle then disappeared once again, Jake turned towards the exit, or what was left of it, but was stopped in his tracks by another noise.

"So are you gonna get this shit off me or what?" The Yellow Ranger yelled out from under the debris.

* * *

Yuffo was really starting to panic. With his terminal sliced in half, he had no way of finishing his assigned task.

Vrak wouldn't be happy, and typically people that made Vrak unhappy ended up with a one-way invitation to a royal dinner.

On a platter.

Think… he needed to think.

He was a man of science, after all, there wasn't anything he couldn't solve with enough brain power.

Yuffo paced around the field, his mind a buzzing like a frantic fly but still drawing a blank.

"I can sense the conflict raging in your soul."

Yuffo turned around, feeling a cold stabbing feeling in his back.

"Who are you?" He asked the cloaked figure, Yuffo didn't possess any psychic abilities, but even without them, he could _feel_ the dark power leaking from the figure.

"I'm nobody," The figure said, then a smile spread across his face. "I like that. Call me Nobody. A bit dramatic, but it fits quite nicely."

"W-what do you want, Nobody?" Yuffo asked.

"This dome," Nobody said, pointing upwards. "It's very impressive. I'm sure Vrak had _nothing_ to do with its design and construction."

"That's right," Yuffo said, careful to hide his enthusiasm.

"From what I've studied the device projecting it is capable of far more impressive feats."

Yuffo just stared at Nobody.

"The Rangers are vulnerable in their current state. It would be nothing for a capable technician such as yourself to use that device to defeat them," Nobody spoke with a smooth charisma.

"But the dome-"

"Your dome is useless in your current state," Nobody said. "Your equipment is already destroyed, and unless you want the same fate you must bring Vrak two new helmets for his collection."

Yuffo nodded, that might actually work.

* * *

Jake leaned all of his weight backward, tugging at a large piece of metal with all of his strength.

He tumbled down, the metal following behind. As soon as his butt hit the ground his armor finally gave out and he was in his civilian form.

And sore as all hell.

"Don't worry," Gia said, throwing more chunks of debris off of her. "I can take care of the rest."

The Yellow Ranger stood up and stretched out her arms before her armor gave out as well.

Gia took in her surroundings and shrugged, "At least you wrecked his computer."

"Heh, yeah. I guess I did," Jake mumbled.

By then Gia was already heading towards the door.

"Hey, wait up!"

The two stepped out and into the quiet city. He paused, mesmerized by the scenery. He'd always wondered what the city would look like after some apocalyptic scenario, whether it be zombies, aliens or some other b-movie trope.

And he was coming to terms with the realization it was much scarier than he'd expected.

By the time he came to his senses, Gia was already crossing the next the street.

"I said wait!" He called and rushed towards her.

Gia kept her eyes forward, not even glancing in Jake's direction.

"Your leg," He said after noticing the dark stain right above her heel. "You should rest, especially after that battle."

"If I did that you'd catch up with me," she said and sped up.

"Dude," Jake said, "Why are you being such a bitch?"

Gia stopped and turned around, a storm in her eyes. " _What_?"

"I'm just trying to help you," Jake quickly replied. "But you won't let me in."

"Because you don't care," Gia said.

"What do you mean?" Jake asked, "Why would I try if I didn't care?"

"You don't care about helping me," Gia said, "Not really. You just care about being a hero."

Jake paused, his mouth still open.

"You didn't even _morph_ until I suggested we get Emma and Jayden," Gia spoke with a fiery calmness. "You just want to be the brightest star in the sky, nothing else matters to you."

"That's not true."

"I know that you really don't think Jayden is dangerous. You're just jealous that _he_ gets to wear red while you're stuck in black."

Jake could practically feel himself vibrating with anger. With his face red, and his hand's white he turned away from Gia, towards the towering dome in the background.

He paused, wide-eyed and astonished.

Looking up at the empty sky.

"Looks like I finally found you two…"

"Oh for god's sake," Jake muttered.

He turned to see the beetle returned, only now there was a large saucer-shaped device attached to its back.

A device rather reminiscent of the saucer that had been kidnapping people and created the dome.

"So are we going to kick your ass this time?" Jake asked, "Or are you going to run away again?"

"It won't be necessary for me to retreat," The beetle said, "I will simply walk away from your smoldering ashes."

And before Jake could ask what the hell that meant several missiles expelled from his back shell and flew right towards him.

"It's morphin' time!" He called moments before the explosion engulfed him in a fire.

His body flew backward, now morphed, and rolled across the bare grass. Tearing it up in ugly patches.

Gia morphed and jumped at the insect with her Tiger Claw ready to slice the monster in half.

But the enemy merely bent itself over and ejected a rush of roaring flames that pushed her backward.

Jake stood up, his body weak, both from the fresh and old wounds. His entire form begged to rest, to give in and accept fate.

But he pushed through.

The beetle lifted the Yellow Ranger in the air, fresh cracks forming in her armor.

"I'm not going to perish," He muttered, "I'm going to _dissect_ you and gift each internal organ as another gift for Lord Vrak. I will live another day, but you, pathetic humans, are seeing your last."

Jake tried to move towards Gia, but at the moment every muscle in his body gave out and he fell face first to the ground.

His legs, nothing but jittering sticks, and his arms trembling too hard to lift up his body.

Even with all of this power, he was utterly useless.

 _That's it_ , he thought to himself, _I have no choice._

With as much strength as he could muster Jake reached to his side and grabbed his morpher.

 _If Gosei could do it, so can I._

"This is Jake!" He screamed at the device. "I need someone, Emma...Jayden, I don't care! We're in major trouble!"

The morpher fell out of his hand as his armor dissipated.

"Well that's cute," A voice said from beyond Jake's view.

The insect turned to its source and was immediately hit with a blast of energy.

Gia flew out of his grip and crashed to the ground. Her armor also fading away.

Jake felt a swirling mix of emotions burning inside.

Jayden stood with his red armor wrapped around his athletic form, with his helmet off and a smile on his face.

"Fortunately for you, we're already here."

 **A/N: I normally don't post multiple chapters in a week but I wanted to get these out closer together since they're essentially a two-parter.**


	7. The Mysterious Arrival

The small spaceship hovered in the void of space. "Earth," Lyra muttered as she stared out at the blue planet, "Hardly seems that impressive to me." She thought back to the countless stories her parents had told her, how they made it out to be some paradise.

Maybe it was better on the ground.

Lyra lowered the small craft towards the planet's stratosphere, careful to avoid the detection of the giant Warstar vessel looming over the planet.

That would be one battle she couldn't win.

Breaking through the atmosphere was easy, but by the time she was hovering over the source of the signal, things got hairy.

"It's like half the armada is sitting over this one town," She muttered in disbelief.

This was going to be a little harder then she'd thought.

* * *

" _This is Jake! I need someone, Emma...Jayden, I don't care! We're in major trouble!"_

Noah listened to the desperate plea through the morpher as he sat alone in his room.

Anxiety tore through his insides, ripping around like a wild beast and leaving him feeling like his guts were ribbons.

He should do something, he knew that.

He should swoop in like Captain Kirk and kick some alien ass.

But his body was frozen, and the only thing he could do was shake.

* * *

The Red Ranger jumped away from a barrage of missiles as he tried to find the best moment to charge forward.

His Dragon Sword was more bottom heavy then his Spin Sword was, and it was taking some adjusting to use properly, but it was nice to have a weapon designed to complement his new powers.

"Get out of the way," Emma said and jumped out in front of Jayden, using the clear area to blast the monster with her Phoenix Shot.

The beetle took the blast with its feet firmly planted to the ground, but it did seem to struggle under its force.

"I don't have time to deal with you welts," The beetle said, and summoned a posse of green-skinned soldiers. "Loogies, take care of our new friends."

"Loogies?" The Pink Ranger asked in a slightly revolted voice.

"Yeah," Jake said as he struggled to stand up, "That's what I thought too."

"Take care of the Loogies," Emma said to Jayden, "I'll fight the ladybug over there."

"Why should I fight the...Loogies?" Red asked.

"Because your main weapon is a sword, and the monster fires missiles," She replied simply.

Jayden hated the answer, primarily because she was _right_.

The Dragon Ranger sliced through several Loogies, generating a rush of sparks and green blood in his wake.

He glanced towards Emma, who spun out of the path of an oncoming missile and blasted the creature with pink bursts of energy.

He felt slightly humiliated, being the most experienced member of the team and having to take care of the grunts.

Yet when she spoke, he listened.

"You Rangers are tiresome," The beetle said, "I crave to rest, and to do that I must smear your blood across the pavement." Yuffo's eyes ignited with light and before the Pink Ranger could react she was flying backward with sparks and cracks in her armor.

Jayden gritted his teeth from under his helmet. Without proper training the other Rangers didn't understand how to preserve energy when their suits took damage, making them more vulnerable to forcibly demorphing.

Knowing that he needed to intervene in Emma's battle with the beetle Jayden began to move towards her, but the Loogies proved to be more reliant then he'd assumed, and quickly filled the space between the two Rangers.

The beetle descended upon Emma, with its insectile face twisted into a mask of sadistic pleasure.

Before getting hid aside the head by a giant flying boulder.

Jake smiled, holding himself up with the aid of a nearby trash can.

"I don't need my suit to kick your sorry ass," He gloated and put another card into the morpher.

"Roplant!"

Vines escaped the cracked sidewalk and surrounded the beetle creature, holding it tightly in place.

Jayden knew an opportunity when he saw one.

The Red Ranger jumped up, landing on the hood of a semi truck and scaled up the vehicle. Then jumped off the back of the massive vehicle, his blade pointed downward.

And slid his blade through the creature's head.

The insect fell to the ground, a yellow oozing liquid foaming from the fresh wound.

"That was pretty good," Gia said, sitting with her back against a building, a large bruise forming on her cheek.

"Yeah," Emma agreed, "Thanks for saving me."

Jayden smiled as he demorphed, with a faint redness to his cheeks.

"Yeah," Jake muttered, "Thanks for all the help."

And he limped off.

* * *

Jake was annoyed by Jayden, but a different feeling was growing inside.

Anxiety.

He neared the area where things had first gone wrong. He was so absorbed in finding answers he became oblivious to the burning of his muscles.

The area city block was bustling with people. Everyone seemed to come out of hiding and wander around, probably out looking for any trace of separated loved ones.

Jake moved through the chaos, looking more like a shell-shocked teen then a superhero.

Then again, he was probably both.

The teen stopped approached the large cylindrical canister and stopped breathing.

It was totally empty.

"I can't believe you were inside that!" He overheard a young kid say to one of his peers. "What did it feel like?"

The young boy shook his head, his eyes filled with terror and disbelief. "I don't know, weird at first… then nothing…"

Jake let out a sigh of relief, it seemed that his assumption about defeating the monster was correct.

"Hey champ," A man said and approached Jake.

For a moment he didn't recognize the man, then he realized it was the guy who had helped him calm the crowd.

But that had happened while he was morphed, so why was he acting like they knew each other?

"You look hurt kid," The man said, "I think you could use a check-up at the emergency room."

"No, I'm fine," Jake muttered moments before he collapsed once again.

Thankfully the man was there to catch him.

"This is a war zone," The man said, "You can't expect to come out scratch free."

With a steady arm around Jake the man brought him over to his burgundy SUV and put him in the passenger seat, and the two drove off.

Jake wanted to object, but he knew that he was in pretty bad shape.

"So you're Jake Holling, right?" The man asked.

"Y-yeah," Jake said after a few moments of tense silence. "How do you know that?"

"Oh sorry," The man said and shook his head, "I didn't mean for that to sound creepy. I heard about you from your soccer coach, he recommended you, even showed me a picture."

"Recommended me?"

"Yeah," The man said, "I run a youth soccer program at the YMCA, I've been looking for a part-time instructor."

"Oh," Jake said. "I guess that's cool."

By then the two were at the E.R or at least the giant line of cars that led to the E.R.

"I'm Carlos Vallerte" The man pulled a business card out of his pocket. "When you're done licking your wounds give me a call. We can even pay you."

"Alright," Jake said and took the card.

"I'll catch you around," Carlos said as Jake threw open the SUV door.

"Yeah, you too," He said and hobbled out towards the E.R.

* * *

Fate is arguably one of the most personified concepts.

It is often regarded as a female, running wild with flowers in her hair. Someone without a care in the world and universe wrapped around her fingers.

Noah Carver was just now starting to understand why.

He felt possessed, the afternoon light shined across the edge of Stone Canyon, where the small city met the woods beyond. The young scientist often came here to collect local floral samples and things of the like.

But tonight he had no such intentions. In fact, he had no idea what he was doing out there.

He almost felt like he was possessed like something had sunken deep inside his skin and was pulling him forwards.

Towards what though?

Only fate would know.

And as it turned out, fate was about to tell.

At first, there was a sound, a low drone that Noah couldn't figure out. He looked upwards, trying to find its source, as it continued to grow louder.

By the time he saw it, there was no time to react.

A ball of fire broke from the sky, moving at incredible speeds before crashing in the forest.

Noah was stunned speechless. A million different explanations rushing through his head. A meteorite, space debris, a fallen satellite.

Of course, he knew all these theories were false. In the past week, his eyes had been opened to an entirely new reality. A world of ripped straight from a science fiction novel.

A very dangerous world.

Noah found himself walking without thinking, without even considering the pounding of his heart against his ribcage.

Towards the strange object sitting in a small crater.

There seemed to no damage to anything outside of the ground under the craft, meaning that it more than likely traveled directly downwards.

Something that Noah figured was quite unusual.

Noah carefully approached the small ship. It was similar in design to the one that the armored Ranger Gosei had sent them to recover used, so Noah assumed that was some kind of space standard.

Some of his sense was returning, and each step was calm and carefully calculated.

Everything around him was gone, the pounding blood in his ear played metronome to the scene playing out in front of his eyes.

And the door snapped open.

Noah didn't know the girl who stepped out of the strange spaceship. Her hair a dirty blonde with large streaks of platinum running through the roots, and her body dressed in a grey uniform.

But he knew the words that escaped from her mouth and she bolted forward.

"Run!"

She quickly rushed past Noah, moving with a sort deranged panic, like a mouse trying to desperately escape the clutches of a hungry cat.

Noah watched, completely mystified as to why she needed such a speedy retreat.

Until he saw the descending spaceship.

A small posse of green-skinned creatures were beamed down from the ship, accompanied by a white colored insect creature with a spiky body covered in bright blue crystals that resembled chunks of ice.

"Now where is that insolent troublemaker?" The creature hissed.

Noah looked back at the invaders and turned back and ran towards the fleeing girl before they noticed him.

Noah's feet carried him forward despite their growing numbness, and despite their growing fluidity, making him feel as if he were walking on stilts.

Images of the last time he saw those green-skinned monsters flashing through his head the entire time, bridging the past and the present. Melting them both into a bizarre parody of reality itself.

Before getting halted by a firm yank of his shirt collar.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" The brown haired girl asked Noah. "You're a Power Ranger aren't you? You should be _fighting_ them!"

Noah was speechless, looking towards the alien girl with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

"Goddammit," She muttered, brandishing a small firearm herself.

Right as a stray grunt jumped from the foliage.

* * *

On the Warstar ship, everyone was in motion, Loogies carrying crates and Creepox sharping his blades, and Vrak himself watching from his throne

"We've sent a collection team after the ship that managed to penetrate the planet's atmosphere," Vrak's orange, stalk-eyed assistant said with a bow.

"Good, yes, whatever," Vrak muttered, "And what of the biomaterial recovered?"

"Ah, yes," The assistant said, "While Yuffo was unable to analyze enough of the biomass to confirm his hypothesis before his tragic demise-" The insectoid broke into a stutter at Vrak's cold stare. "There was enough biomass on the ship to finish the analysis."

"And?"

"The human's of Earth contain similar enough DNA for us to construct a strain of the pathogen."

Vrak smiled, it seemed that fool had managed to make some use of his pitiful existence before after all.

"Begin work immediately. I want everything set into place by the time I finish my royal nap." Vrak said and stood up, heading towards his private headquarters.

"As you wish," The orange creature said with a faint sneer.


	8. The Fear to Fight

Noah watched as the beam of energy shot from the pistol and tore through the green creature.

"I can't stand those Loogies," She said under her breath, stepping over the pool of green blood.

Noah watched as the girl moved, she carried herself with the swift swagger of a trained soldier. And more importantly, she seemed undeniably human…

"What?" She snapped, "What are you looking at?"

"N-nothing!" Noah snapped, feeling his face grow hot.

"So we're surrounded," The girl said. "And that insectoid is only going to get closer. So if you want to live I'd suggest you morph already, because I don't have _nearly_ enough bullets for all of these freaks."

Noah froze and his breath escaped him. A tight circle of Loogies had since managed to materialize around them, moving slowly but intently.

 _Come on_ , the young boy muttered to himself. _Just reach into your pocket and pull it out…_

Yet his hands were still.

 _You can do it._

The girl grabbed the Loogie before it could attack, holding it in a headlock before snapping its neck with an ugly crunch.

 _You have to do it-_

Her pistol broke into a blast of intense light, punching holes through the marching soldiers.

 _-Otherwise, we're dead!_

Despite the urgent sense of fear pulsing hot adrenaline through his veins Noah couldn't help but stare.

"If you aren't going to help then _get the hell back_!" The girl screamed and pushed Noah to the ground as several more Loogies charged.

Noah hit the ground hard and regained some of his sense, but that only turned to panic.

The Loogies were advancing, and the only thing keeping them at bay was her rapid fire pistol.

Until even that clicked out.

She swore under her breath as she tried to hold the creature's off with hand to hand combat, but was quickly becoming overwhelmed.

Suddenly one of the Loogies grabbed onto the girl and she cried out.

Noah watched as the world shifted in speed, moving like horrible game lag, jittery and unpredictable. He watched like a helpless bystander, like a player behind a screen.

As the alien girl fought for her life.

Noah felt a knife twist his insides, shredding his guts.

And then everything was gone in a flash.

* * *

Lyra wasn't one to believe in legends. Much like any child she had been absorbed in a world of fantasy growing up. Gods and men, monsters and power rangers, duking it out battles that defied reality. But even then she knew the difference between fiction and fact.

Moments ago she thought she was dead, with a Loogie wrapped around her waist.

Then she was face to face with a being spoke only through whispers on the playground.

"You're Gosei…" She whispered, unsure of what else to say.

"That is correct," the booming voice proclaimed.

"But who are you?" The Ranger she had met in the forest asked.

"I'm Lyra, I came here from KO-35 to investigate Warstar." She said in a calm voice.

Gosei was silent, his green eyes pulsing was the only indication there was still life within his metal form.

"Oh dear…" A small robot muttered, "Gosei may need a moment."

Lyra watched all of this carefully, the silent guardian, the worried robot, and the oblivious human.

Did he really not see it?

Suddenly something erupted with a loud ringing and the Ranger jumped. He quickly dug his hand into his pocket and drew a small flashing device.

"Oh heck..." He muttered, "I didn't realize it was so late. My mom is gonna be pissed."

"I'll teleport you home," The robot said and wheeled over to the terminal."

"Thank you Tensou," The boy said. He then looked at Lyra, "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Noah. Thanks for saving me."

"Yeah," She replied as the boy transformed into a beam of blue light. "Whatever."

She then turned to Gosei, Zordon's hidden legacy, and the galaxy's trump card.

"Now let's see why I can do about you."

* * *

Noah stepped into his house slowly, Tensou had teleported him about a block down the road, meaning he'd had a slight walk just to get to his front door.

He didn't even need to open his door, because the moment his feet touched the welcome mat it swung open.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" His mother exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

"I-uh- was out observing some celestial anomalies," He muttered, not exactly lying.

His mother cast a stare that tore right through his stomach, but after a few intense moments she took a deep breath and centered herself, "Just be more careful not to lose track of time. Things haven't been the same since those Rangers showed up, and things are getting dangerous."

* * *

The small crystal gem around Lyra's neck radiated brightly in the dusk of the Command Center. The Sigma Stone, as it was known, was a powerful artifact similar in structure to the Zeo Crystal though much too small to be used to power a Ranger team.

The stone's gleam died, making it appear similar to limestone.

And Gosei's eyes grew twice as bright.

"That's all I can do for now," The young girl said.

"Thank you," Gosei said, "The fog in my mind has been lifted."

"It's only temporary," Lyra admitted. "And when the energy I lent you wears off you're going to be twice as bad."

"That is a risk we'll have to take," Gosei said solemnly.

"Don't think I did this for free," The girl said, "Now you have to do something for me."

"Yes?"

"You have to actually _talk_ to that Ranger team you made. They need a proper mentor."

"Of course," Gosei said, "Arrangements will be made for tomorrow."

* * *

Excluding a twisted ankle and a severe case of fatigue Jake was relatively fine. The emergency room had been an absolute disaster, with tons of people coming in from the battle with a wide array of injuries.

And Jake wouldn't let himself be treated until everyone else was taken care of.

So by the time he found himself in front of a doctor, it was already well after five in the morning, meaning they allowed him to stay longer and lick his wounds.

When he awoke he realized he wasn't alone.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Emma shrugged, "I wanted to see if you were okay."

"Yeah," He said, "I'm fine."

Emma frowned. "I heard what happened from Gia."

"Good," He spat, "Saves me the trouble."

"Look, I know what it's like to be a Ranger for the first time. It's scary. It's okay to be scared."

"It's not that," Jake said, feeling the familiar cold twist. "I heard people talking last night…"

"Yeah?"

"Not everyone survived being in that goop," He choked out, "Most people did, but not everyone."

"Jake," Emma said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"No!" He said and slapped her away. "Don't say anything to me. I don't want a pep talk."

Emma took a step back, her eyes softening. "It wasn't your fault. You did everything you could."

"Clearly not," Jake said, "Otherwise there'd be no funerals."

"That was a battlefield," Emma retorted, "There's going to be casualties. You can't save everyone, all you can do is save as many people as you can."

Jake was silent. He didn't want to give into philosophy. That was the coward's way out.

"I'm sorry," Emma said, "I didn't come here to stir you up."

"Well then maybe you should leave," Jake replied, knowing he was being relentlessly harsh but not really caring.

"Yeah," Emma said softly, "Alright. Well, I hope you feel better."

Emma turned to exit the room when they were once again enveloped in light…

* * *

"You know what," Jake said, who was holding himself up by his one of the five colored podiums facing Gosei. "I think you should give us a ten-second warning before you do that."

Gosei's eyes suddenly ignited with a bright green color and a red energy crawled up Jake's leg. The Black Ranger watched in mystified silence as the pain he had felt moments ago was suddenly gone.

He then looked around and saw that the other four Rangers were all there as well, watching him with as much interest as awed spectators.

"Don't waste your energy," A female voice said, and Jake turned to see a brown-haired girl standing in the corner, leaning calmly against the wall of the base.

Noah almost grinned at Jake's surprise.

"This is Lyra," He explained, "She's an alien."

The girl just shrugged.

"We can have formal introductions later," Gosei said. "We have more important things to discuss first."

The large flat screen monitor on the cave wall flickered to life. The screen displayed a small planet, coated in pale-colored sand and otherwise desolate.

"This is the planet Edenoi," Gosei explained, "The insectoids of Warstar were genetically engineered by the planet's tyrannical overlord many years ago. Since the collapse of his regime the Insectoids were forced into slavery and bought by Vrak," The imagine shifted to reveal a blue-faced creature in battle armor. "Vrak is the second born child of one of the universe's most feared warlords. He was robbed of his royal status by his older brother and forced to see glory through his own means alone."

"Vrak has come to Earth in search of me," Gosei admitted softly, "He seeks a power that only I know the location of, the Greatest Treasure in the Universe."

* * *

Eezek was way over his head, and he knew it. The cold, uncomfortable warship would be his tomb unless he could manage to prove to Vrak that he was a valuable asset.

After all, the Insectoids were just tools to Vrak. Things that were to be used and squeezed of all resources before being promptly terminated when their usefulness expired.

No matter what Eezek did there would always be a clock on his back. Ticking down constantly, counting the moments before Vrak tired of him.

His hands tapped feverishly across the keyboard, unlocking the secrets wound around the human gene, and twisting it to his own devices.

"Eezek," A voice said from behind the orange insectoid. The creature jumped and quickly turned around.

Only to be greeted by the scout sent to investigate the off-world ship.

"The offworlder I was supposed to collect alluded me," The creature said.

"Well, you aren't the only one with personal problems…" Eezek muttered. "Just go destroy stuff, cause a scene. That should snuff them out."

The creature bowed. "It shall be done. In Vrak's honor!" And the insectoid rushed out.

Eezek sighed and continued his work. It was sad how quickly some beings were to blind loyalty.

* * *

A nearby car exploded as a posse of Loogies led by the white colored insectoid paraded through Stone Canyon. Humans ran for shelter, once again terrified and caught off guard by the monster's sudden arrival.

Thankfully the Power Rangers were there.

"Go make sure those people get find shelter," Red told the Black Ranger.

He scuffed but the Yellow Ranger stepped up, "I'll take care of it." She said and rushed to their aid.

"You," He said to the Pink Ranger. "Cover me."

With his sword drawn the Red Ranger jumped into combat. His blade ranked the enemy's side, ejecting a wave of bright sparks from the creature's side.

The team moved in unison, like a machine with each Ranger a well-oiled piston.

All the while Noah watched silently from the Command Center.

"So what's your problem anyway?" Lyra asked, "Did you pull a muscle or something?"

Noah looked at her for a few moments, "I-uh- no…"

"That what's wrong? I haven't seen you morph once."

Noah could feel his face heat up, he turned away from the girl and towards the screen, watching the fight in a tense silence.

The Red Ranger was making good progress, dodging the Insectoid's strikes and flanking it with his sword. All the while the Pink Ranger would occasionally offer a blast from her large weapon as well.

And then the Black Ranger jumped out from the Red Ranger's left. In his hand, he carried his battle ax, which was about to be swung downwards towards the villain.

Unfortunately, the monster was prepared.

As soon as the Black Ranger was in sight of the monster it opened its mouth and a large plume of white mist exploded outwards and enveloped the Ranger.

When the mist cleared it revealed the Black Ranger was in fact frozen in a giant block of ice.

The insectoid laughed and unleashed another wave of mist but the Red Ranger quickly rolled away from the attack, now savvy to its power.

Noah felt the hairs on his neck shoot up as he watched the Black Ranger, frozen like some kind of twisted cartoon.

"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Lyra spat. "Clearly this kid doesn't have the valor to be a Power Ranger." She looked hard at the face mounted on the cave wall. "Just give me his powers! Otherwise, those kids are good as dead."

Gosei was silent, and Noah worried about what the being may be thinking.

Meanwhile, the Rangers were trying their hardest to hold off the enemy.

The Red Ranger charged his sword with glowing energy and moved in to attack, but didn't have time to react as the insectoid took a deep breath.

Moments before it could exhale the Pink Ranger jumped up from behind, pushing him out of the way and taking the full brunt of the attack.

And she, just like the Black Ranger before her, was frozen in ice.

Noah clenched his fists together, watching as the symbiosis of the team quickly dissolved into chaos.

The Yellow Ranger returned from helping civilians to aid the Red Ranger, managing to sneak up behind the insectoid and flank its side with her claw weapon.

While her attack did manage to hit the creature, erupting a rush of sparks, it left her open to its own attack.

And she too was frozen.

"That's it," Lyra said suddenly. "Even if you won't give me his morpher I'm going down there. I'd rather risk my life than just sit here and watch them die."

Without consulting Gosei she approached the terminal and began to click a few keys. Her body was then enveloped in a bright green light and she was transported out of the Command Center.

Leaving Noah alone to watch. A twisting vine of dread crawling up his stomach.


	9. Backed Against the Wall

The moment Lyra landed on the concrete her gun was firing. Three blasts of red energy shot from the muzzle and flanked the creature's side.

" _You_!" The insectoid spat and expelled a wave of white mist.

Lyra swiftly rolled out of its path as the grass behind her froze instantly.

"I'm the one you came for," She said, "So why not come and get me?"

"What are you doing?" The Red Ranger asked. "You aren't a Ranger."

"You don't need fancy suits to kick ass," She said and again blasted the enemy in the face. "All you need is a proper weapon."

As she took a crouching stance to better her aim a posse of Loogies quickly filled in the gap between her and the insectoid.

She swore to herself and opened fire on the green colored grunts.

While the Red Ranger continued his duel against the insectoid one of the Loogies aimed its blaster towards his head.

But a quick shot from her own weapon sent the grunt flying backward.

"Good shot," The Red Ranger admitted stubbornly.

Lyra flashed a sour expression towards the Ranger. Impersonal bastards like him where what gave Reds a bad name in the Ranger community.

"Wait until he attacks and use your Reflecloud card," Lyra said to the Ranger.

The Red Ranger completely ignored her advice and instead dodged its attack and swung his sword right into the creature's collarbone. The blade sunk into its flesh, cracking through its shell and leaking a green colored fluid.

While his attack was technically successful it left the Ranger vulnerable to the insectoid's attack.

And then all four Rangers were trapped in blocks of ice.

* * *

Noah could feel his heart in his throat, pounding up to his neck and vibrating up his skull. He felt like he could be sick at any moment.

"Noah," Gosei said, "I understand that you're afraid."

Noah remained quiet, unable to speak, even if he wanted to.

"I'm sure that you are questioning my judgment in making you a Power Ranger."

Noah kept his head down.

"In truth, I didn't choose for you to be a Power Ranger," Gosei admitted, "The Power itself chose you." Gosei paused, "It saw something inside of you, a potential hidden in your spirit."

Noah lifted his head, "I don't know… if I can do this."

"The Power knows," Gosei said, "The same Power that has guided Rangers since the dawn of their inception."

Noah pulled out his morpher, looking hard at its metal surface.

He knew what had to happen next.

* * *

Lyra found her current situation to be slightly overwhelming. Loogies jumped out from behind a car and while two quick shots took care of them she was also dodging the relentless attacks from the white insectoid.

The young girl took a deep breath and tried to center herself. Her mentor had often talked about the importance of staying calm during combat. The mind was prone to making the wrong choices during moments of stress and it was imperative to survival to swallow overwhelming emotions before they could jeopardize the combat situation.

This was all a lot more simple when she'd been training.

Suddenly an unexpected Loogie jumped out at her. It moved to fast to counter, punching her in the face and sending a ringing pain all the way to the center of her head. She fell back, stunned and seeing stars.

The insectoid made a horrifyingly joyous noise and expelled more white mist. Lyra tried to dodge the assault, but only managed to do so partially.

Leaving half of her left leg completely frozen.

No time to think about that, she realized as she raised her gun.

The insectoid swatted the weapon from her grip and lifted her up.

"Master Vrak is going to be very pleased to have you in his company." The creature said it's hot rotten breath hitting her face. "Maybe he'll let me have what's left of you when he's done."

She felt her stomach drop as the teleportation beam began to envelop them. She didn't know what would be awaiting them inside of his ship, but she knew it would be something out of her nightmares.

Suddenly a blast of energy hit the monster's hand. Residual heat burned her face, and the resulting sparks singed across her uniform.

But that hardly mattered because the insectoid actually dropped her.

She fell to the ground and felt a jolt of pain shoot up her spine. She turned to the source of the attack and was immediately surprised.

She was staring directly at a Blue Ranger.

The Ranger aimed his bow gun at the insectoid and fired again, causing sparks to expel from the creature's chest.

The new arrival stood silently, standing stoic and still.

The insectoid hissed and expelled a wave of icy mist, but the Blue Ranger ducked behind a nearby tree. With the ancient oak turned until a woodsickle the Blue Ranger quickly peeked out from it and fired another blast from his weapon.

Lyra was actually impressed, she hadn't expected such quick thinking from the Ranger.

"I need you to listen to me," Lyra said, "I know how to kill this insectoid."

"Okay," Blue said, still behind the tree, "I'm listening."

"I need you to stand in front of it and use your Refleclear card." Said, hoping that unlike the Red Ranger he'd actually listen to her advice.

"I- uh- okay," The Blue Ranger said. He reached for his morpher as the insectoid inhaled sharply.

He noticed the attack seconds before it was too late, dropping out of its path moments before the mist caught up with him. And dropped his bow gun in the process.

The Ranger swore under his breath and awkwardly reached out towards the weapon.

"Forget your gun!" She screamed, watching as the creature prepared its next attack.

A rush of white colored mist flew towards the Blue Ranger's head.

But not before he could slide the card inside of his morpher.

A scream escaped his lips as a bright light covered the battlefield.

The mist settled, and a giant block of ice encased a body.

"H-how did you know that would happen?" The Blue Ranger asked, looking up at the creature, now trapped by its own attack.

"I studied the cards from my ship's databank," Lyra explained, not sure how much detail she could trust with the Ranger.

"Okay…" The Ranger said but didn't pose anymore question.

"Anyway," Lyra said, aiming her blaster at the block of ice. "Let's take on this guy before he melts."

With a well-placed blast to the insectoid's chest it and the block of ice immediately shattered.

The effects of the monster's defeat were almost instantaneous. The ice covering Lyra's leg melted to water, along with the four other Rangers scattered around the area.

"Woah!" The Black Ranger yelled, suddenly flying forward with his ax mid-swing.

The Red Ranger parried the weapon, knocking it from his grip before it could slice the Pink Ranger in half.

"Thanks, Jayden," She said warmly.

"Don't say my name while we're morphed," He said, not even glancing in her direction. "You never know who's watching."

* * *

Nobody stood silently, like a shadow thrown across a wall at sunset. He watched them relish in their victory. It was typical fare, especially for such an inexperienced team.

All in all the team was rather average, if not below. In fact, if it weren't for Vrak's utter incompetence as a statistical advisor the team would have already been destroyed.

It was then that Nobody noticed _her_ , the blonde haired girl standing among the armored warriors.

There was something about the girl, something that made Nobody's blood _boil_.

He raised his hand into the air and it began to glow as he channeled dark energy.

A large black orb ejected from his hand and hovered over the spot where the monster had been standing.

Not only did the insectoid begin to reform, but it began to grow as well.

* * *

"Right on man," The Black Ranger said and threw his arm around Noah. "Good to see you in blue."

"Yeah," The Pink Ranger said. "We would still be in the ice age without you!"

"Thanks," Noah stuttered out, feeling his cheeks pulse with heat.

Unfortunately for Noah's ego, the celebration didn't last very long.

A black orb appeared before them and surrounded the ground around the creature's destroyed body. It pierced the insectoid back together, forcing it back into being, slowly and disgustingly.

And then it started to grow.

"I don't know how I didn't see that coming," Jake muttered. "We're _freaking_ Power Rangers, of course, something is going to grow!"

" _Rangers,_ " Gosei said through their communicators, "It is time for you to summon your Zords."

"Alright!" Jake said, "Let's do this."

The Ranger's hard holder began to ignite with light, and they reach pulled out a brand new card.

"Summon Zords!" They all yelled in unison and slid the cards inside their morphers.

The Insectoid growled primally and slammed its foot down in front of the Rangers, almost crushing them in the process.

Then the ground began to shake, but not from the Insectoid's rampage.

Five large multi-colored machines arrived at the scene. Each of the Zords were designed after the animals on Ranger's helmets.

The Black Ranger's Zord was a snake with a body that resembled a subway train.

Yellow's Zord was a tiger built on caterpillar wheels with an all-around flat and bulky design.

Blue's Zord was a shark with a submarine-like body most likely designed for aquatic travel.

The Pink Ranger's Zord was a phoenix with an all-around jet-like design, although it was primarly white instead of pink.

Lastly, the Red Ranger's Zord was long and flowy, appearing as a long serpentine dragon with arching wings that extended from its midsection.

Each of the Rangers was teleported inside of their Zords, and Lyra was teleported back to the Command Center.

Noah couldn't believe how natural it felt to be inside of the Zord. As a child watching the Rangers on T.V he'd assumed the skill required to control these vehicles was astronomical, but he was having zero trouble at all.

Although it was strange to have it be sliding across the ground.

The white insectoid swung its fist at the Phoenix Zord, but the craft quickly dodged by turning its body and ejected a laser from its mouth that hit the enemy in the chest and generated a rush of sparks.

The Snake Zord sped around the insectoid's feet in an attempt to trip it.

"If this Zord can do anything better I'm open to being told about it," Jake muttered.

The insectoid growled and kicked the train Zord, sending it rolling and crashed into a building.

"I sure hope that was empty…" Noah muttered and fired a barrage of torpedoes from his Zord.

The insectoid seemed to lack all of the intelligence it formally had formally shown, instead of stomping around like a wild animal. It inhaled deeply, its chest puffing almost cartoonishly with air.

But as soon as it expelled the white mist the Dragon Zord countered it with a blast of fire of its own.

"I need Black and Yellow to hold it in place," Jayden suddenly barked.

"Right," Gia said, pulling her Zord towards the creature.

"Yeah, whatever," Jake muttered.

Each of the Zords bit down on one of the insectoid's legs.

"Blue, and Pink, with me."

"Right," Emma said.

The three Zords all crowded around the insectoid.

"Fire," Jayden said as his Zord shot a fireball at the giant enemy.

Noah and Emma followed suit, sending their individual attacks.

Sparks began to erupt from the creature, and secondary explosions covered its body. Until the explosions completely enveloped the creature and it fell to the ground, erupting into flames.

* * *

"Sooo," Jake said to Gosei in the Command Center, "Can our Zords form a giant robot?"

"That is correct," Gosei said.

"Heck yeah!" Jake exclaimed and seemed to be moments away from dancing around.

"But the Megazord can only be summoned when the battle has escalated that far," Gosei said.

"What does that mean?" Gia asked, "Shouldn't we use our best weapons first?"

"It isn't that simple," Gosei explained, "The Power Rangers are protectors, not warriors."

" _I'm_ a warrior," Jayden said.

"Well anyway," Noah said, trying to make sure things didn't get derailed, "Its good to know that we have something in case of an emergency."

"Yeah," Gia muttered, "Let's just forget about all the people that'll get killed before the bad guys _escalate_ the battle, whatever that means."

"Look at the city," Emma said, pointing at the dilapidated structures left over from their recent battle. "No matter how careful we are with those giant machines they still cause millions, if not billions of dollars worth of damage. They _should_ only be a last resort."

The other Rangers grew silent, letting her words linger in the air as they looked out at the damaged city block.

* * *

Vrak awoke from his royal nap to a rather interesting surprise.

"That insectoid," he muttered, analyzing the battle footage, "How did he do that?"

"I'm not sure," Eezek said, "There isn't a biological explanation."

"Hmmm," Vrak muttered to himself. He had heard of other armies using such tactics in the past, but their techniques were never shared. Instead, they were kept under lock and key, fearful that they may be used against them.

He'd heard rumors that his father's top scientists were working on a technique for the Armada to utilize, but that was still experimental at best.

No, to Vrak it seemed that there was another player on the board.

"Is the virus complete?" Vrak asked Eezek.

"Yes sir," The orange insectoid said.

"Good, I wanted it prepared and injected into the selected host."

"Of course, I'll be right on that," Eezek said and walked off towards his laboratory.

* * *

"You didn't have to follow me," Lyra said as she approached her ship.

"I just wanted to make sure you got here okay," Noah said, "You know, after what happened earlier."

"Well you should have asked my opinion before you started breathing down my neck," She said and stepped inside of the ship. "Plus if I was that worried I would have had Gosei teleport me inside of the ship."

"Yeah," Noah said nervously, "I guess that makes sense."

"So tell me, what do you want?"

Noah froze, feeling a familiar panic spread through his muscles like a computer virus, rendering his body useless.

After a few moments, Lyra got bored of looking at his worried expression and turned away to clean up some clothes that had been scattered in the initial crash.

"I…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his morpher, "Here."

"Keep it," She said, not even bothering to turn around.

"But you said it yourself, you'd be a better Ranger than me."

"Sorry, that isn't how this works,"

"What do you mean?" Noah asked, "If it wasn't for you I'd probably be dead, along with the rest of my team."

"I wasn't chosen," She said as she picked up a silver necklace, holding it tight in her hand. "It's as simple as that."

"But what if I mess up?" Noah said desperately, "What if I get people killed?"

"Look," Lyra said, and turned back to Noah, "Right now I'd definitely be a better choice of Ranger. We both know that. But that's not how the Morphing Grid works, it likes to play the long game."

She took a step closer, "that means that no matter what you or I think, _you_ are the best choice."

A silence had fallen over Noah, he just stared at the girl from outer space.

"Now," She said, "If you don't mind, I have some cleaning to do before Gosei teleports my ship to a safer location. So I'd prefer if you left me alone."

"I-I… Yeah, okay." Noah muttered and quickly departed the ship. His mind was lost in an ocean of thought.

He knew he should feel better, but he couldn't help but feel worse somehow.

* * *

The Phantom Ranger could sense Gosei's strength returning, even from the Warstar ship, and that was definitely something to be happy about.

But for every joy there was a damping dread, that was a fundamental rule of the universe.

Even the morphing grid itself was fueled by the principle of equality. True to that rule the Phantom Ranger came to a new realization.

Someone or _something_ was blocking his connection to Gosei. Even though the spirit world itself. In all of Phantom's existence, he had never known of something that strong. Even Dark Spectre himself couldn't handle such a feat.

Whatever was dwelling on Earth was definitely something to be scared of.


	10. Pride

_Jayden hears her scream break out, and in mere seconds he's running under the light of the dying sky._

 _His feet splash in the ankle deep water, blood red._

 _Fears he had tried to swallow open up like a blossoming flower._

 _And he's staring right at the grinning mug of his greatest adversary._

" _You call these Power Rangers?" Master Xandred asks, with the bodies of the Blue, Black, and Yellow Rangers sprawled out around him._

" _They're nothing but children."_

 _Emma struggles against his closed fist, but the ancient monster doesn't budge._

 _He pushes his sword against her back, his smirk spreading into a wide smile of insanity._

 _Before shoving the blade through her chest._

Jayden awoke abruptly with a scream, his body coated in thick sweat.

He took a deep breath and sat up, leaning against his headrest. He couldn't remember having a nightmare like that before. Even if he had, it hadn't left him feeling so stirred, so disturbed.

Or so helpless.

The five Rangers stood on the empty beach Jayden had discovered while exploring the city. For whatever reason, the area seemed to have been abandoned years ago, with skeleton buildings being the only sign of human activity.

"I don't see how this is supposed to help us fight aliens," Jake said, holding his bokken lazily in his hand. "I mean you're the only one who uses a sword."

The Black Ranger buckled sideways after Jayden slammed the wooden sword into his side. "You could have used a sword to block that."

"Don't be a dick," Jake muttered, still holding his side.

Jayden didn't reply, instead, he kept the blank expression on his face as he turned to the other three Rangers.

In a flash of movement the former samurai charged forward, his wooden sword raised and directed towards Emma. The other Rangers watched with growing shock.

Jayden swung fast, but Emma parried flawlessly.

"This is the result of daily training," Jayden said, demonstrating further as their match continued.

"Not only has the kata sharpened her reflexes, but also her mind."

Emma just smiled.

"Alright," Gia said, "I'll give it a shot."

"No," Jayden barked suddenly, "You aren't ready to spar yet. You haven't even mastered basic kata."

"Kata?" Jake asked, "That sounds lame, why can't we just play with the stupid wooden swords already?"

"This isn't a game," Jayden said, "This a matter of life and death."

"No," Jake said and held out his Morpher, " _This_ is a matter of life and death." He then held up his bokken, "This is just a waste of time."

Emma could tell by the way Jayden clenched his fist he was doing everything in his power to hold his rising temper.

"Alright," Jayden said, "Let's have a match, one on one. If you can beat me you don't have to do _any_ of my training."

Jake laughed, "And if I win you have to let me be the red ranger."

"Fine," Jayden said, "Meet me here tomorrow. Be ready."

"I'll be ready," Jake said, "Only if you're ready to lose."

Emma felt a knot growing in her stomach as she walked around the beach a few hours after the confrontation between the two Rangers.

A brief moment of relief came over her as she found Jayden alone, performing a very difficult looking kata.

"Hey," Emma called out to him. "Do you want to talk?"

"No," He replied flatly, "I want to practice."

"Well then I'll help you with that," She said and pulled a spare bokken out of his bag.

He looked at her in silence for a few moments before eventually shrugging.

"Yeah, sure."

Emma smiled and took a defensive stance.

Blocking Jayden's attack was easy enough, but what she noticed was that the force was much greater than when they typically spared. In fact, he hit her hard enough to caught a jolt of pain up to her elbows.

Something told Emma he wasn't playing around this time.

* * *

Jake walked alone in the California heat. His shoulders low and his chest up. Each breath was harsh and filled with some kind of insult directed towards the stuck-up asshole who decided he was the team leader.

He just couldn't wait until tomorrow, he was going to knock that wannabe into the dirt and show the rest of the team that _he_ was destined to be the Red Ranger!

"You look a little lost in thought," A voice said behind Jake, "Wanna talk about it?"

"Mind your own-" Jake said as he turned around, but stopped abruptly at the sight of the voice. It was a person wrapped in a black cloak.

Jake grabbed for his morpher, if that didn't scream Ranger business he didn't what would.

"Oh relax," The man said, "I'm not here to fight you."

"Then what _do_ you want?"

"I can sense a great potential inside of you," The figure said. "And I know how to bring it out."

"Oh yeah, because that's not a horribly suspicious thing to say," Jake muttered.

"I can assure you I have no ill intentions," The man reassured, "In fact, I'm only trying to help the city stay safe. After all, we need the _best_ possible Red Ranger protecting us."

Jake smiled, a small part of him realized the strangeness of the sentence, but at that moment he didn't even care.

"I'm all ears."

* * *

Verox was a rather nasty creature, a horrible relic from a time where the Edenites that constructed him were working on biological warfare.

"So after this, I'll be respected?" Verox asked, "Master Vrak won't keep me in that cage."

"Oh absolutely," Eezek said, working on a few clear tubes that connected to the insectoid's hard skin. "In fact, if you're successful I've heard that Vrak will give you a seat next to his throne."

"That would be wonderful," The monster mused. "I would sit there until the end of my days."

Eezek had to hold in the laughter as he pulled down the lever and a green liquid began to pour into the insectoid's body.

* * *

"This is ridiculous," Emma said, breathless and aching.

"You said you wanted to spar," Jayden said, "So we're sparring."

"Not this. I'm talking about Jake."

Jayden hit her bokken hard enough to knock it from her grip and slid his foot under her legs, sending her to the ground with her sword clunking behind her.

Emma looked up at Jayden, her eyes wide.

"You let your guard down," He said and turned away.

"You're such a dick!" She exclaimed. "I thought maybe you'd lessen up after a while, but apparently I was wrong."

Jayden swallowed the urge to lash out as the young girl's voice spurred anger in his chest.

After all, he was doing this to protect them.

"Jake is reckless, he doesn't listen, and refuses to accept that his nature will only lead to more failures."

"Well, how are you acting any different?" Emma asked as Jayden began to walk away. "You haven't even tried to talk to him! It's like you can only solve problems by waving a sword at them. We're all on the same team."

"A tower made of sticks will fall no matter how it's built. A building is only as strong as its materials." Jayden said and walked away, leaving before Emma could even pick herself up.

* * *

The moon was full, casting silver light down on the street below.

Axel couldn't help but smile from ear to ear, his grip tightened around the other boy's hand. Relationships were never something he was particularly good at maintaining, especially with a mother that often moved around.

But this seemed different this time around, and the smirking redhead at his side definitely boosted his emotional moral.

"What?" The boy asked finally, "You look you have something you want to say."

Axel froze, a pang of lightning shooting from his stomach to his throat.

Did he really have the guts to say it?

"Well, we've been seeing each other for a few weeks now-" Axel stuttered out, knowing that he was blushing from the pain in his cheeks. "I just- I really like you- I mean what I'm trying to say is-

 _Bordel de Dieu_!"

"Haha-," The other boy muttered, "Its cute when you do that. Though I don't know a lick of French."

"No- Look behind you!" Axel exclaimed.

By then there wasn't much he could do but scream, finding himself staring right at terrifying insect monster.

The creature inhaled sharply, puffing back as if preparing to pounce.

And instead sneezed all over the boy.

The creature turned around and escaped into the night, leaving the two boys shocked and confused.

"You okay Brad?" Axel asked.

Brad looked at his hands and arms, now fully caked in the thick green slime. "Y-Yeah. It doesn't hurt or anything."

"I'll walk you home so you can get cleaned up," Axel said, approaching Brad but not touching him.

"You don't need to do that," Brad snapped sharply, "I'll be fine on my own."

"O-Okay," Axel muttered.

Two things that Axel was sure he'd never understand were monster attacks and other boys.

* * *

Gia's alarm blasted her out of a fragile sleep and into a groggy reality. Her hand tapped the red button on her cell phone and she laid there a few more moments, trying to absorb as much energy as she could.

When that was out of the way she dragged herself out of bed and threw some clothes on, heading down the hallway and into the kitchen.

"You don't look so hot," Gia said to her brother, who was staring at a bowl of cereal.

"Yeah, I think I was up too late or something," He said, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "I feel like trash."

"You probably got something from one of your girlfriends," Gia said with a sideways smile, "Probably the same one that gave you that hickey on your neck."

"Haha- yeah," he said nervously, touching his neck, "Must be."

"You ready for practice tonight?" Their dad asked, stepping into the kitchen with his laptop case in hand.

"I'll try to make it," He replied, "But I think I have the flu or something."

"I'm sure you're fine," Their dad said and gave him a hardy pat on the back, "Besides, it wouldn't be the same without _Brad Moran_." Their father said enthusiastically and waltzed out the door.

Brad sighed and stood up, immediately falling over and catching himself by the refrigerator. He then lumbered over to the living room.

"Where are you going?" Gia asked.

"School."

"But you're sick," She said, "You probably shouldn't even be walking around."

"I'd rather deal with a little sickness then deal with Dad." He spat and walked out the door.

Gia sighed, getting as much breakfast in her mouth as she could before chasing after him.

* * *

Emma bit her lip as she watched Jayden and Jake standing across from each other, with only a small patch of sand separating their determined scowls. She felt guilty about skipping photography club, especially since she was the president, but she was far too worried about one of them killing each other.

"Hey Em," Gia said, "You have sixth period with Brad right?"

"Yeah," Emma said, not turning away from the two boys.

"Did you see him?"

"No," Emma said, "Why?"

"He was pretty sick this morning, I was just wondering if he went home early."

"He must have," Noah retorted, "I didn't see him either."

When Gia turned to Noah she noticed the alien girl standing next to him, and she immediately frowned.

"What's she doing here?" Gia asked.

"I'm here to watch," Lyra said, "Same as you."

It seemed like Gia was contemplating what to say next, but before the opportunity arose Jayden spoke up.

"First one to demorph loses," He said, holding up his morpher. "There are no other rules."

"Sounds good," Jake replied. "Ready when you are."

Jayden didn't waste any more time, in a flash of red energy his suit formed around him and his sword was drawn.

Jake morphed just in time to respond, and steel clanked against steel, erecting a wave of sparks.

The two continued clashing, reminding Emma of two rams fighting for dominance.

Jake was fast and agile, something that Emma related to his years of soccer practice. He lugged such a heavy ax around almost as gracefully as Jayden used his sword. Jake would pull it up sharply and let gravity carry it down, something that gravity took great pleasure it, rushing it down like a guillotine.

Still, Jayden was plenty talented as well, he danced from side to side, allowing enough room for the weapon to pass but enough clearance to swing his own weapon.

When the opportunity arose Jayden jabbed his blade forward, sliding across Jake's side and causing his suit to spark.

Jake jumped backward, taking a few seconds to recover from the attack.

Of course Jayden had no intention of letting the Black Ranger recover and instead pounced forward, his blade raised for another attack.

"Rockrush!" The Black Ranger called and slid the card into his morpher.

A giant rock materialized from thin air and crashed right into an unprepared Jayden, sending him flying backward.

The Black Ranger said, "Just give up before things get ugly."

"What's wrong?" Jayden asked, picking himself up, "Scared you're going to lose already?"

"I tried to warn you," The Black Ranger said and pulled out another action card.

One that Emma didn't recognize.

"That's not a normal action card," Lyra said darkly, "This isn't good."

Gia flashed a " _how the hell would you know that?"_ look, but didn't say anything.

"Darkseige!" Jake screamed and slammed the card inside his morpher.

The gosei morpher began to ripple with purple colored lightning, before expelling a blast that knocked the Red Ranger to his knees.

The Black Ranger was enveloped in a light similar to when he morphed, only now his visor was a red color, and the molded lips on his helmet were replaced with smooth metal.

The Ranger charged, faster than Emma even thought possible and swung down towards Jayden. The Red Ranger managed to deflect the attack with his sword, but only barely. Without his other hand supporting the blade's end, the weapon would be swiftly ripped from his grip by the sheer force alone.

Jayden jumped backward and Emma felt her heart drop as she watched his stance change from offensive to defensive.

Meaning that Jayden knew he was over his own head.

Jake continued his march, swinging his sword from side to side like a sideways pendulum, as Jayden continued to evade by hopping backward, barely avoiding a hit each time.

"Last chance to give up," The Black Ranger said.

The Red Ranger remained quiet and tried to use the moment of stillness to his advantage by lunging out again.

Unfortunately, the Black Ranger didn't take the bait and easily dodged while providing a counter-attack of his own.

One that the Red Ranger couldn't dodge.

The ax raked against Jayden's stomach, sending him flying backward as electricity surged across his armor.

His morphed flickered as he laid on the ground.

The Black Ranger stood over him, his ax ready to deliver the killing blow.

Emma was absolutely mortified, watching as Jake stood unsympathetically over the Red Ranger.

At that moment she knew that it was time to intervene.

She pulled out her morpher and rushed towards the duo.

The Black Ranger paid her no attention, sending his ax down towards the helpless Ranger.

"Defenstorm!" She called and summoned a vortex of air between him and Jayden. With the Black Ranger stunned she moved in and positioned herself in front of Jayden.

"I think it would be wise to move out of my way," The Black Ranger said coldly.

"Or else what?" Emma asked, "Are you gonna hit me?"

"Don't get all righteous," Jake growled, "I'm doing what's best for _everyone_."

"How could you possibly think that?" Emma asked.

"Jayden doesn't deserve to be the Red Ranger. The creep just stumbled into all of our lives and took over." Jake stood uncomfortably close to Emma, his ax still in hand. "When you broke your ankle who carried you home? When Noah was getting beat on who stepped in? _I've_ been the leader all along, I earned it, not Jayden."

"If that's really how you think things should work," Emma said sternly, "Then you shouldn't even be a Ranger in the first place."

"How _dare_ you say that!" Jake said, raising his weapon into the air.

"Now you better calm down there," Gia said from beside Jake. He turned to see the Yellow Ranger and one side, and the Blue Ranger at the other.

"I'm sorry Jake, but you aren't acting like yourself," Noah said softly.

"Get _away_ from me!" Jake howled and threw swung his ax forward, the blade clipped the Blue Ranger and sent him flying backward.

Jake took the opening and broke into a full sprint, kicking up a cloud of sand as he rushed out of sight.

Emma looked at Jayden, who just laid there for a few seconds.

She offered her hand but he quickly slapped it away and sat up himself.

His armor dissipated and he walked off.

But Emma knew better than to follow him.

* * *

"Aren't you supposed to be at football practice?" Axel asked as he caught sight of Brad standing in the doorway.

"Don't feel up to it right now," Brad said and stepped into the small white room.

"Dude, are you cool?" Axel asked as he noticed the pale glossy expression on his face.

"I don't think so…" Brad said and leaned into a nearby trash can and emptied his stomach.

"Oh shit," he said and moved to aid Brad as he nearly fell over. "You're burning up, dude."

"I haven't felt this sick in years."

"I can drive you to the hospital," Axel offered.

"No," Brad said, "If my dad finds out I'm not at practice he'll kill me."

"Sorry to judge his parenting, but I'm pretty sure your life is a little more important."

Brad took a step away from Axel and immediately fell over. That was when Axel noticed something really strange, there was a patch of green across the nape of Brad's neck. It looked puffy and possibly infected, whatever it was, and it even seemed to be growing.

Axel had no idea what was going on, but it definitely wasn't good.

* * *

Even demorphed, Jake was still shaking. It had been almost an hour since his confrontation with Jayden, but the feelings were still fresh in his mind.

The fight, the anger, the uncontrollable sensations that rippled through his body.

He looked down at his morphing card and felt a pang in his stomach, it now carried the image of his altered helmet.

He didn't know what had come over him when he transformed, but it scared the hell out of him.

Especially when he hit Noah… the feeling of dread hadn't escaped him yet. At the moment there had been so much rage inside of himself that he couldn't even protect his best friend.

His inner dialogue stopped immediately when he heard the scream break out.

Jake rushed out to see a girl standing in the middle of the street, her body covered in a strange green slime.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

The girl nodded, but her eyes were wide. "There was a monster, it- it- sneezed on me!"

Jake nodded, "Get somewhere safe."

The girl ran off and quickly disappeared from sight.

With just enough time to let the monster appear.

The brutish creature was definitely a sight to behold. Thick legs carried the being upright, with a giant insect-like head with large mandibles keeping its mouth shut and giant purple eyes. Its mouthguard opened up and revealed sharp jagged teeth, and it, for lack of better term, sneezed out a large green glob.

Jake rolled away at the phlegm hit the ground with a hard splat.

"Why the hell are all of these insectoids so gross?"

Jake lifted his gosei morpher up and contemplated calling for help, fearing that if he morphed again he'd lose control again.

But Jake couldn't bring himself to face his friends after making such a big ass of himself.

He dodged another jet of mucus and rolled onto a half kneel. He raised his morpher and loaded an action card inside.

He'd have to beat this freak without morphing.


	11. The Green Plague

_2010 - Seventh Grade_

Jake hit the ground hard, yelling as the pain jolted up his spine.

Jake sat quietly, too scared to do anything else.

One of the boys, Derrick, ripped Jake's backpack from his grip and began to dig inside.

"Ooo," Derrick teased, "What do we have here?" The boy pulled his hand out to reveal a red mighty morphin action figure.

"I think you're a little old to be playing with Power Rangers," Derrick said with a sneer.

"Yeah," Brad Moran agreed, "Maybe we should confiscate it."

"Good idea," Derrick agreed, "I hear these go for a pretty good price on eBay. Maybe I could sell it and score me a copy of Black Ops."

Jake jumped up in a futile attempt to catch the trio off guard, but this only caught him a punch to the gut by the third boy who had been on standby.

"Why don't you show us some of your moves, Power Dork," Derrick teased.

"Yeah, change into your pink suit and kick our asses," Brad added.

"True," The third boy snicked, "I bet that fag would wear pink!"

All three of the boys laughed, but for whatever reason Brad seemed slightly more forced.

Jake's rage was at its boiling point, and his hands clenched to fists.

He wished with all of his spirit that he _could_ morph, but not into the Pink Ranger.

No, deep in his heart he knew that he wanted to be the Red Ranger, and he would use his power to show _everyone_ that he wasn't scared to stand up to bullies.

With a throat-tearing scream Jake sprang up and started violently swing his hands. His fourth swing actually hit the third boy, connecting with his cheek and temporally stunning him.

But Derrick was a whole lot faster, and simply bopped Jake in the nose, causing a head-splitting pain and a slow gush of blood.

"Oops," Derrick said and snapped the head off of the action figure, "Looks like had a bit of an accident." Derrick threw the broken toy at Jake's feet and turned around. "But it looks like he wasn't the only one. I'd go ask your mom for a tampon if I were you."

The three boys walked away, laughing the entire time.

 _Present day…._

Jake slid behind an abandoned car as a large wad of green phlegm slapped the other side of the car, completely coding it in thick mucus.

And once again Jake did everything in his power not to vomit.

"Squarquake!" Jake exclaimed as the ground below them began to shake violently.

The ground below the insectoid opened up between its feet, and it had to rapidly leap out of its path to avoid falling.

"Rockrush!" A bolder pulled itself out of the ground and hit the insectoid square in the face.

Unfortunately, the rock broke apart with little regard from the monster.

"Well, there goes my main strategy…" Jake muttered.

The creature then attempted to expel another orb of slime but Jake slid the Defenstone card into his morpher and a large stone shield protected him from the blast.

As he rushed down the road he was finding it harder and harder not to step in any of the insectoid's fluids. The entire street was practically enveloped in it.

"How much snot does this guy have?" Jake asked himself.

It seemed that being a Ranger never got any easier.

* * *

Jayden did what he always did when he found himself in a stressful situation.

He trained.

Jayden swung his sword until the piece of wood became indistinguishable from his own body, a mere extension of his reach.

There was something calming about being so far into the storm, like standing in the eye of a tornado. Everything was still, even among the chaos.

Of course it wouldn't be long before something broke that silence, and unfortunately for Jayden, it was never anything but trouble.

A loud banging broke the former samurai's concentration and he quickly turned to his window to see it's source.

And was immediately met with a strange sight.

A mantis insectoid strolled down the street rather calmly, like an old man taking his dog on a walk.

But replace the dog with shackled Loogies.

"Come on!" The mantis screamed and yanked the chains. "We don't have all day!"

Jayden didn't know what that meant, but it couldn't be good.

The young boy morphed and jumped down, his sword primed and ready to slice into the first Loogie he found.

His sword lowered. "What the hell?" He asked in disbelief.

That was when he noticed the Loogies all had human faces.

* * *

Gia was mindlessly driving down the empty street. A part of her realized that the road should be absolutely stuffed with people heading home from work, but in truth, she had other things on her mind.

Like finding Jake, and making him apologize for attacking Noah like that.

Her hands tightened against the wheel as she turned down the street.

In her mind, she was choreographing the speech to end all speeches. Her magnum opus, something so heated it would leave Jake blushing for _weeks_.

And that was when her phone rang.

Gia quickly pulled over and dug into her pocket. Unless it was spam she almost never got calls. She looked at the number, and while it was local it wasn't one she recognized.

"Uh, hello?"

" _This is Gia, right?_ " The voice was male and probably around her age.

"It is," she said in a neutral tone.

" _I'm with Brad, I need you to come to the school. We're in the gymnasium_ "

The urgency in his voice made her blood freeze.

"What happened?"

" _He's sick, and he won't let me help him._ "

It seemed that Jake would have to wait.

* * *

The insectoid screeched as it plowed into the car Jake had been leaning against moments ago.

If it wasn't for a well-timed roll he'd be smashed between twisted metal.

He took a deep breath and tried to collect himself, with fatigue as a heavy blanket around him.

All of his cards were useless against the creature, it's hard shell made any physical attacks pointless, and it had the strength to tear through any defense.

Even though every nerve in his body screamed for a retreat he couldn't bring himself to give up.

Not after all of his mistakes.

The monster took a sharp inhale and Jake knew what was coming next. He lifted himself up and broke into an awkward dash.

Which was abruptly ended when his feet hit a puddle of mucus and he found himself tumbling down.

He his the ground back first, a move that would make his chiropractor cringe later on, and his vision filled with stars.

Jake looked up at the Insectoid, its mouth guard split open and its teeth glittered through the shadows. He clenched his hand into a fist, determined that he'd continue this fight, even if only in spirit.

Suddenly a rush of pink energy splashed against the Insectoid, sending it backward a few steps and allowed Jake to crawl some distance away from it.

He looked over to see a person clad in pink armor, her large Phoenix Blaster in her hand. He knew he was supposed to feel relieved, but a he really only felt annoyed.

"Get behind me," The Pink Ranger said.

"This is one tough bug. None of my action cards works," Jake stammered out.

"Well did you try this?" She asked and unleashed a volley of pink lasers. The creature's hard shell shed sparks. The Insectoid screeched and turned around, running away from the two.

" _Don't let it escape_ ," A voice said through their helmet's comm-link. It was a female voice, that Jake eventually realized belong to Lyra. " _You have to go after it!_ "

"On it," Emma said and ran after the monster.

Jake picked himself up, ignoring the screaming pain that echoed throughout his body, and followed behind.

* * *

Back with Jayden, the Red Ranger stared at the blank-eyed monstrosities with a twisting feeling in his stomach.

"Our soldiers have to come from _somewhere_ ," The red Insectoid said. "And thankfully you humans are perfectly compatible."

One of the human-Loogies charged towards Jayden, but he quickly jumped out of its way. Even as he found himself surrounded he refused to fight, worried about hurting the people underneath.

Even though there might not be anything inside of them to salvage.

Jayden reached for his blaster, feeling the unfamiliar weight and strange concept of the weapon. He thought back to Scott, the Red Ranger from another universe he had met last year. He had been a sharpshooter and a deadly one at that.

If Scott could do it so could Jayden.

The blast exploded out of the barrel, with enough recoil to blow the weapon from Jayden's hand. The red laser surged past the human creatures and hit the Insectoid in the face, breaking off its right mandible.

Green ichor leaked from the open wound, and the creature snarled.

"Out- of - the -way!" The creature snarled, trying to speak with half of its mouth crushed.

The Loogies did as asked, scurrying away like scared insects.

"I am Creepox," The Insectoid snarled, "And your blood will feed my blades, and my stomach." It armed itself with two sickles as it charged towards him.

* * *

Gia approached the high school, a familiar anxiety creeping into his chest. Her heart was in her ears as she pushed open the door and went inside.

She walked through the empty halls, where not even lone janitors seeming to be roaming and headed straight towards the large double doors.

She found a young boy standing outside of them, there was a fresh scratch across his face, and he was sweating so hard it looked like he'd been out during downpour.

"I had to lock him in there," The boy explained, "It was the only way to keep him safe."

"What the hell are you talking about?" She asked, "And who are you?"

"I'm Axel," The boy explained, "Brad and I are… friends. Anyway, that's not important. Something happened to him. At first, I thought he was sick, but it's way worse than that."

"Just let me see," Gia said and all but pushed him out of the way.

She opened the wide doors, and a rush of cool air hit her face. Normally the gym was a place she enjoyed, allowing her to kick back and play whatever sport was being hosted. But now she was terrified, a creeping chill climbed up her stomach and nestled in her throat.

She hadn't felt a fear this ripe since a volleyball match she had in the eighth grade. It was an unexplainable fear, seemingly bigger than anything around her. It was warning of sorts, some sixth sense kicking in.

She broke her ankle that game and had been out for the rest of the season.

Something jumped out at Gia, she heard a primal snarl as she was kicked into a defensive mode. She pulled her arm back to punch whatever was charging towards her.

Then paused.

Despite the green flesh that she would normally find on a Loogie, there was something else about the creature, something far more terrifying than she could ever have imagined.

The creature had Brad's face.

* * *

Emma ran down the empty street, finding more and more pools of green slime. Not nearly as much as she had found surrounding Jake, but there was definitely a lot.

Her caught something as she chased the Insectoid, there was a small mob of Loogies facing the other direction. She aimed her weapon while running, hoping she could flank them down before they could slow her down.

There was something different about them, but Emma couldn't exactly place it.

"Stop!" Jake called out. His voice was hoarse from the job, without his powers he was struggling to keep up with Emma. "Wait up!"

Despite her best interest, Emma paused.

"You should go somewhere safe," She said, "This area isn't safe for civilians."

"Oh quit that," Jake said, "I know I messed up, I'm sorry, but I want to help you."

"Shh!" She barked, realizing that the Loogies would hear their conversation.

And they did.

Emma fired a blast of energy and sent one of the creatures flying forward before it could turn around, but the other two quickly began to charge.

And that was when it hit Emma.

While she was frozen in terror Jake moved fast, he slid a card inside his morpher and called out, "Roplant!" Vines surrounded the creatures and held them still.

"What do you think happened?" Emma asked, looking at their human faces. She didn't want to believe they were _real_ people, but she actually recognized one of them.

He was her mailman.

"Who knows," Jake muttered, "Jeez, these Warstar guys are really messed up."

"Let's just find that snot guy," Emma said, "So we can beat his butt and put everything back to normal."

Emma's ear suddenly detected something subtle, a faint shuffle from above.

She armed her weapon, much to Jake's confusion.

But by the time the Insectoid jumped down from the rooftop he really couldn't complain.

The purple and green creature stared at the duo with its three compound eyes stretched out its arms and laughed. "You're the warriors that have been slaying my dear brothers? Well, let's see if you can keep up with Dragonflay!"

* * *

Jayden only barely dodged the sickle and it flew past his face.

He hadn't seen such a prolific fighter since Dekker himself.

"You're the first challenge I've had in three star systems!" Creepox mused, "But no worry, all this stretching will merely tenderize your meat for me."

Jayden gritted his teeth underneath his helmet and tried to swallow the growing fear. After all, he shouldn't be afraid of bugs. They should be crushed under his boot!

He jumped into the air and pulled his sword downwards.

And was instantly caught by Creepox's twin sickles.

Of course, no enemy should be underestimated.

Twin beams of blue light escaped the Insectoid's eyes and punched Jayden in the chest, sending him backward in a rush of sparks.

"Why don't you surrender?" Creepox teased, "Vrak has won, and soon your entire planet will fall."

Jayden stood himself up, ignoring the blossoming pain the way he had throughout the last few years.

"If you think I'm going to bow to you, then you've met a true warrior before!" He screamed, using the adrenaline to keep himself upright.

"Fine. It's your funeral anyway."

* * *

Vrak watched the various battles through a dozen screens placed on the left wall of his throne room.

So far everything was going as planned.

"Master Vrak!" Eezek said and approached the throne. "Everything is going smoothly."

"Yes, I know," Vrak said with a smirk. "At this rate, it's only a matter of time."

"There is only one concern," Eezek said.

"Yes?"

"There are only four Rangers being tracked right now," Eezek explained.

"What of it?" Vrak asked, starting to feel a bit annoyed.

"There is five Rangers sir."

"No matter," Vrak said with a wave of his hand. "We've gotten too far for an entire army of Rangers to stop us. Virox has infected a third of the city and continuing as we speak. One Ranger won't make a difference."

Vrak laughed to himself and drank a glass of royal wine. In his mind, he was already formulating a victory speech.

"Lack of foresight," Eezek said, soft enough to elude Vrak's ears, "Will be your undoing."


	12. A Rat aboard the Ship

Noah stood in place, as he had since the fight's abrupt ending, Jake's attack hadn't hurt his body.

But it had hurt his spirit.

If only he had been strong enough to fight back, but the surprise and the heat of the battle had frozen him in place. Allowing Jake to run off.

"I can give you a ride home," Emma offered, everyone else had since cleared out.

"No," He said softly, "I'm fine."

Emma nodded, "Well I'll be around, text me later okay?"

"Yeah," He said and watched as she walked off.

He could still feel the heat of Jake's ax blade, and how jarring it had felt to be attacked by his best friend.

"You," A voice said through his fog, "I have a question."

"Yeah?" He responded, now realizing he was talking to Lyra.

"I noticed you examine your interest in Gosei's technology," She said in her normally blunt tone.

"Well yeah," Noah said, his face growing warm. "It's all so awesome like it's totally out there."

"Are you good with technology?" She asked.

Noah paused, for the first time since meeting Lyra he realized how awkward she was. It made sense, after all, she was literally an alien.

"Yeah," He said, feeling more comfortable, "I mean, I'm not great, but I've fixed my mom's tablet, and I built my own computer."

"Do you know anything about interplanetary transmitters?"

"I mean- I can't say I've ever seen one," Noah said, "But I can take a look if you want."

* * *

Noah knew he was totally over his head. This stuff looked like it was ripped straight off the Millennial Falcon. He couldn't even tell which parts were broken and which were _suppose_ to look like that.

"I might be able to figure it out," He said nervously, "But it'll take me awhile."

"Okay."

Noah could tell by her worried expression that wasn't the answer she was expecting.

"What do you need it for? Maybe we have something on Earth that'll work in the meantime."

Lyra's cheek's flashed red, "That's classified."

Noah felt her embarrassment second hand and stopped pressing the issue.

"So what's it like," Noah began but momentarily lost himself in the question, "Uh- on your homeworld?"

Lyra chewed her thoughts before speaking, "Different... less exciting. Though the world I grew up on was closer to this."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," She said with a distant gaze. "It was more structured though, less chaos..."

Suddenly a loud beeping echoed through the small room.

"I'm assuming that isn't good," Noah said.

"No. It means we need to head back to Gosei and find out what's going on."

* * *

Back at the slime-covered street, the two Rangers were eager to continue their chase for the Insectoid responsible for infecting the humans. Unfortunately, they had a new adversary standing in their way.

Emma fired six consecutive shots at the new Insectoid. And every single one missed.

The creature known as Dragonflay moved at almost impossible speeds, dashing around in a blur that completely defied his bulky body. By the time Emma caught the creature in her crosshairs, he was close enough to attack.

And he sent her body flying backward. She crashed into a nearby car, causing its alarm to ring loudly through the quiet street.

"I need your help," She said to Jake.

"On it!" He said and slid a card inside of his morpher. A bolder sailed towards the creature and missed entirely.

The Pink Ranger ditched her Phoenix Shot and instead drew her small blaster, assumably in hopes that its light weight would make hitting the enemy less difficult.

Dragonflay struck again, moving back and forth so fast he was a pure wall of motion, striking Emma with a rush of sparks each time he crossed her path.

Jake watched in pure horror as she was tossed around so easily.

Sure, he was still mad that she had interrupted his duel with Jayden, but he knew that she was only trying to protect them.

"Roplant!" He screamed and summoned a rush of roots that tore the assault under his feet and headed towards the Insectoid.

"Nice try," Dragonflay mused and leaped into the air, letting the roots slide safely under his form.

The Insectoid shot out a powerful eyebeam that exploded into a burst of fire next to Jake's feet, sending him crashing hard into the concrete of the nearby sidewalk.

Emma rushed to his aid, but Dragonflay knocked her back with a swift upwards blow.

"You're good as dead," The Insectoid said and approached Jake. "There is nothing in the universe that can challenge the will of Lord Vrak."

Jake touched the card in his hand and felt a hole where his guts should be.

He didn't like it, but there wasn't another choice.

He just hoped he wouldn't lose control again.

* * *

It was insane how quickly dread and anxiety could twist into a complete nightmare. This was something Gia was learning first hand.

"Gosei…" The green creature moaned using her own brother's voice.

Gia looked down at the figure in complete disbelief. Her brain was going so fast it had practically ceased all functions.

"Gosei…" The creature repeated.

How did he -it- know that name?

"I've never seen anything like this," The boy said, "And I've seen a lot of weird stuff."

"Can you please leave me alone," Gia said sharply.

"I- uh- yeah," He said, "Just keep me updated."

"Sure, whatever," Gia said.

"Thanks," He said and slowly walked out, walking backward so he could keep his eyes glued on what was left of Brad.

"I'm Axel, by the way. Just in case Brad hasn't mentioned me before."

"You already told me that," She muttered, "Bye Axel."

In a way, she felt rude being so harsh with the boy, after all, he was only looking out for her brother, for whatever reason.

But he couldn't be around for what she was going to do next.

"Gosei this is an emergency, I need you to teleport me and my brother to the Command Center right now."

* * *

Jayden rolled away from the swinging sickles and pushed himself back to his feet, his blade in hand and ready.

He thought back to his training his Ji, where he had learned to master the blade. He might not be a Samurai Ranger, but he was still a warrior.

"I have watched your battles," Creepox said, "And all of your friends too." The Insectoid shot an eyebeam that Jayden jumped to avoid. By the time he recovered from his abrupt leap Creepox was behind him, and slashed into the Red Ranger's back.

"When I'm done with you I'm going to take down your team one by one. Especially that _Pink_ one. I'm going to enjoy slaughtering her." Creepox kicked Jayden, sending the Ranger back a few feet and rolling across the ground. "Nothing tastes sweeter than a naughty little Power Ranger."

Jayden felt himself surging with anger. He allowed the emotion to fester, to fuel him. Normally he'd be worried about having his true vision clouded by such potent feelings, but this was a moment of grave emergency.

Jayden stood up and charged forward. His body was still half hunched, but he shot like a torpedo, his blade extend outward like a jouster.

Metal hit metal, and then something _broke_.

Fortunately, it was Creepox's chest plate.

Jayden shoved his blade further into the Insectoid, causing the fresh wound to foam with green liquid.

Creepox screamed in anguish and threw the Ranger away.

Jayden hit the ground, his armor fading in a flash of light.

Unfortunately for Creepox that caused the only object holding in his blood to disappear as well.

The Insectoid grabbed for its fresh wound, a gush of blood seeping through its fingertips.

"That's it…" It muttered, "Loogies, get him!"

Jayden looked around as a sinking feeling opened up inside.

And about a hundred human faced Loogies appeared around him.

* * *

Gia hit the ground of the Command Center with her brother in her arms. She tried to ignore the cold, dead, feeling of his green flesh as she turned to Gosei.

"Fix him- please!"

"Oh, my!" Tensou exclaimed, "We need to get him to the medical bay."

"Don't bother," Lyra said as she stepped over to them.

Gia couldn't help but scowl at the girl. She didn't quite understand what it was, but something about Lyra made her feel uneasy.

When she pointed her pistol blaster at Gia's brother the Yellow Ranger didn't have to wonder much.

"What are you doing?" Gia snapped.

"I'm doing him a favor, trust me."

Gia pulled her brother away, fighting against his strength the whole time.

"Your brother is gone," Lyra said coldly.

"And how do you know that?" Gia asked.

"I've seen this before, on a hundred different planets. This is Vrak's killing move."

"Well there has to be _something_ ," Gia said, "And I'm not going to let you hurt him until I _know_ that there's nothing."

"Maybe if we defeat the monster," Noah offered, who was standing a few feet away.

"It would have to be soon," Lyra retorted, "Pretty soon the Insectoid is going to return to Vrak's ship, and then it's _glorian_ , essentially its brain, will be removed and put into stasis." She looked hard at Gia, "Meaning that everyone infected will be _stuck_ unless someone crashes the ship."

"Well, I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen!"

At that moment the Loogie knocked its elbow into Gia, causing her head to shoot with pain and allow it to escape her grip.

It plowed right into Lyra, knocking her off guard and sending her body crashing into the hard metal.

Gia might have been amused if not for the fact that the creature lifted her gun to the air and aimed with Brad's eyes.

And fired into Gosei point blank.

* * *

Emma knew she was fighting a losing battle. Dragonflay was completely out of her league, and if things kept going she would definitely lose.

Still, there wasn't anything else she could do.

"Twistnato!" She called and summoned a tornado that whipped through the area, sending debris and everything else in its path flying around aggressively.

But just as before Dragonflay dodged flawlessly.

The Insectoid jumped into the air, the stubby wings on its back fluttering with enough speed to help project the creature towards Emma.

Moments before it could reach her something knocked it clear out of the sky.

"You're gonna have to try a little harder then that if you wanna lay your hands on her," Jake said, his black armor on.

Emma couldn't help but scowl, noticing the red visor across his helmet.

"Why are you still using that card?" She asked.

"Sorry babe," Jake said, "It's a package deal now."

The Black Ranger raised his weapon and fired it from behind, ejecting sparks from the Insectoid as it tried to sneak up on them.

"That might have worked on Pinkie," Jake said and held his ax up, "But now you're dealing with the Brawn." The Ranger charged forward and swung his weapon into the creature, knocking it back as easily as it had with her.

Whatever that action card had done to Jake definitely increased his power, and at that moment she had to be grateful for that.

But what was the cost of the power?

Sure, Jake seemed okay physically, but there was something off about him.

Even the way he stood was wrong. It was like something else was living in his body, pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

"I think your the least disgusting bug I've had to exterminate," Jake said. "But we'll have to see if you're any less messy on the _inside_!"

This time when Jake's ax connected with the Insectoid there was a loud crack.

Shallow cracks spread from the point of impact, with tiny orbs of green appearing across the lines.

The Insectoid fired an eyebeam that hit Jake in the chest. Despite his darkened armor, and a spray of sparks Jake didn't even flinch.

Jake silently raised his ax as it began to fluctuate with dark lightning and swung it down. The world around them filled with an eerie static as a spinning wheel of energy soured right towards the monster.

The energy connected with the Insectoid and tore it right in half.

Emma didn't even know how to process what was in front of her as green ichor splashed across the concrete and the two halves exploded.

"Remember that next time you want to get in my way," the black ranger said, grabbed Emma by her uniform and pulling her into the air.

"Jayden isn't your enemy, and I'm not going to let you two kill each other because you're both too stupid to talk things out."

Jake growled, pulling Emma closer. Close enough to see her reflection in his crimson visor.

"Jayden is just some privileged little bitch. Just because he was born a Red Ranger doesn't mean jackshit!" Jake threw Emma down and turned around.

At that moment Emma had a lapse of emptiness inside.

She _knew_ that voice was Jake's.

She could sense conflict with every move he made as if every action was the result of some grand struggle.

"Find that snot ball," Jake said, "Kick its ass for me."

And Jake ran off.

* * *

"Hey Gosei!" Jayden called into the morpher and feeling really stupid by the lack of a proper answer.

With no one to pull him out Jayden was forced to break into a run and attempt to escape the Loogie monstrosities on foot.

Normally this won't be difficult for someone gifted with a Ranger's endurance, but their sheer numbers were absolutely overwhelming.

And Jayden was quickly running out of space.

Every corner he turned brought more of the monsters in his path. It was as if every corner of the city was crawling with them.

An actual infestation.

Jayden found himself facing another biological wall of green flesh, with the creature's behind him filling in the gaps.

Jayden held his sword firmly. He knew that he didn't want to risk harming anyone that could be saved, but he had to face the possibility that there not be any other course of action.

Suddenly the Loogies in front of him were thrown into a mess of motion. Their bodies littered around like debris.

And Jake at the center of the storm.

Jayden knew he had to step in, whatever dark energy Jake had allowed inside himself had taken over. And if he wasn't stopped civilians would be killed.

Jayden rushed forward, ignoring his wounds from Creepox.

Jake was about to deliver a killing blow to a human/Loogie when Jayden slid in between the two.

Metal hit metal, and sparks followed.

"Why don't you leave these poor people alone and take on someone a bit more challenging," Jayden said.

"Only if you think you can handle losing, especially without Emma to babysit."

Jayden didn't reply, instead, he took a defensive stance and prepared for battle.

The Phantom Ranger fell to the ground in anguish. His spiritual connect to Gosei was weak, but whatever had happened to him was strong enough to send waves past any barrier.

The pain was excruciating, like a red-hot dagger being plunged into his very spirit.

The Phantom Ranger picked himself up only to fall back into the wall, sliding down to the ground.

The Phantom Ranger knew that if things were to continue down this path he would have to resort to desperate measures.

The Phantom Ranger relaxed, allowing his body to feel the flowing energies of the universe.

The flow of the morphing grid itself.

He let the power wash over himself, to drown into it and sink into the very bottom of the universe.

"Please Zordon, forgive me."

* * *

The lowest section of the ship smelled absolutely horrid. Like a Regnar beast having its intestines gutted and set out in the hot sun for a week.

But Eezek ignored that, along with the soupy air, because this is the one spot Vrak wouldn't be watching…

"This is Agent EZ," The orange Insectoid said into the handheld device. "I have adjusted the virus to your specifications, and I await further instructions."

A small chirping escaped the device, a secret code that Eezek couldn't speak, but he could very well understand.

"Yes, my Lordship," Eezek said and killed the communication.


	13. Power Shift

Sparks flew from Gosei's metal face as the blaster fire splashed against him.

"Gosei!" Tensou exclaimed and rushed to his master's aid, but the Loogie quickly kicked the creature back and sent it sliding across the stone floor.

Emma suddenly sprang into action, she moved in from behind the assailant and chopped it in the neck, causing the creature to collapse and fall unconscious.

"Impressive," Lyra said and grabbed the Loogie, lifting him into the air.

"Yeah…" Emma said, looking down at her own hands.

Her body had moved on its own. She figured it was a side effect of being a Ranger. After all, they did so many moves she would find impossible out of the suit.

But still, this had felt _different_.

"Tensou," A voice said, "Cut Gosei from this communicator, and direct energy from the axillary generator into him."

"Yes, yes!" Tensou exclaimed, "Thank you, Emma!"

Emma looked around, "Why are you thanking me?"

Tensou was already too busy to respond.

She turned to Noah and Lyra, who had put Brad onto a large metal table with a clear glass front that formed over the top.

"That isn't going to hurt him is it?" Gia asked.

"No," Lyra replied, "It'll put him into a status, that's about as much as we can do."

"Can't you like, try to find a cure?"

"No one here is a scientist," Lyra said, "And even if we were if it was possible to reverse the virus someone would have found out how to stop it by now. The only thing you can do is kill the Insectoid before it can be retrieved."

Gia nodded somberly. Deep down she had figured it would come to this.

"Let's go take care of that freak," She said, her hand wrapped around her morpher.

* * *

The street was filled with the distance shuffle of thousands of mindless footsteps, but the beings stayed at bay, watching like spectators.

Jayden knew he was reaching his limits. He dodged the giant black ax and rolled across the ground. His body burned with every move, like ants under his skin, gnawing at his flesh.

"I gotta admit," Jake said, slamming his ax downward, missing Jayden by mere seconds and instead slicing into the concrete, "I'm looking forward to wearing red."

Jayden clenched his teeth from under his helmet. Jake sounded so confident, as if Jayden were a straw dummy.

The Red Ranger channeled his fury, turning it into a sword, a wedge that he forced between him and his agony.

Jayden Shiba was not a dummy, he was not a hurdle, he was a mountain.

The Red Ranger swung his sword through the air, a rush of powerful air pushed the Black Ranger back, forcing him into a crouch to prevent falling backward.

The Dragon Ranger broke into a run, slicing into the Black Ranger as he rushed past.

Black lighting tore through the Ranger's armor and he staggered a few inches.

"I am Jayden Shiba," The Red Ranger said, small flickers of light danced around his body. Tiny wisps of fire. "Former 18th head of the Shiba clan, former Samurai Power Ranger. Today I will be the one to cut you down."

Jake steadied himself and lifted his ax into the air.

And the two clashed blades.

* * *

Emma rushed down the through the small shopping district, empty vendors, all coated in slime, flew past her as she followed the awkward shuffle.

Despite the encounter with Dragonflay giving the other insectoid time to gain distance between them, Emma was still faster, only strengthened by her Ranger endurance.

The insectoid turned around, its eyes growing wide as it caught her in its sights.

"I can't fail," The creature wailed, "Not when I'm so close to victory!" It shot a blast of slime out of its mouth that jetted towards the Pink Ranger.

"Defenstorm!" She called and summoned a wall of wind that sent the phlegm flying elsewhere.

"Hey, watch where you're flinging that!" A voice called from up ahead.

The Insectoid froze almost immediately, realizing that two figures now blocked his escape path.

"Better not get cold feet," The Yellow Ranger said to her blue companion.

"I'll do my best," He said with a raised bowgun.

"Good," Gia spat, "because I'm not going to hold back."

* * *

Jayden ducked under Jake's swinging ax and it tore into the van behind him.

For the first time since the battle with Master Xandread Jayden had to come to terms with the idea that this might be a battle that he can't win.

The next swing was too close for comfort, slicing a light post in hand and echoing a loud boom as it fell.

Suddenly Emma's words drifted into his head.

" _You haven't even tried to talk to him…"_

Jayden grimaced from under his helmet. It was at least worth a shot.

"Look," Jayden said, "We don't have to fight."

"You know what?" Jake asked, lowering his weapon and extending his hand. "You're right."

A bolt of black energy shot Jayden in the chest, sending his body rolling backward.

"You can just give up," Jake said smugly.

Jayden struggled to stand back up, all of his injuries were culminating together, resulting in a constant scream from his muscles.

 _Okay,_ Jayden thought to himself, _that probably sounded pretty fake._

"I- uh…" Jayden stammered out awkwardly.

The Black Ranger kept walking, slowly, his ax at his side and his head stiff.

Jayden knew he'd have to do something better than that to get Jake's attention.

The Red Ranger lifted his sword, his samurai blood pounding in his ears.

And then he did the one thing that would make his ancestors scream.

He threw his sword to the ground.

Jake paused, his head turning to watch the clanking metal.

 _Good,_ Jayden thought, _now what?_

"I'm sorry," He said desperately.

The insincerity in his voice was immediately picked up by Jake and the Black Ranger continued his march.

Jayden knew that he couldn't do this like a samurai, but a samurai was all he was. He'd been trained his whole life to be a sword, so how was he suddenly suppose to change?

His thoughts drifted to Emma, how she'd been able to prob his mind. He just had to think like _her_.

"You were right when you said that I don't deserve to be the Red Ranger," Jayden breathed out, his eyes on the ground.

Jake stood across from the Red Ranger. Unmoving.

"When I ran away from home I did it because I felt _useless_. My sister was the real Red Ranger, I was just pretending to buy her time." Jayden clenched his fists, his own words stung more than his numerous wounds. "I just accepted these powers because I wanted to feel important."

Jake stood there for a few moments. For once Jayden actually wanted to be hit, because at least that would be better than continuing to spill his guts.

"Do you know what my problem with you is?" Jake asked. "You're some hotshot samurai who came in out of nowhere. Emma thinks your great, Noah thinks your great, even Gia is impressed. You know the right moves to make and you never mess up in battle. Basically, you're everything I always _dreamed_ of being."

Jake took a step closer to Jayden, so close they were practically touching.

"And you're terrible. You're bland and uninteresting. You don't even know how to talk to me like a human. "

Jayden was speechless. He was angry, he wanted to object, but there was nothing to object to.

"All you have is power, and that's pathetic…"

Jake turned around and his armor melted away.

"Keep your suit," Jake said bitterly, "Because I just realized how much I _don't_ want it."

As Jake walked away Jayden noticed something where he had been standing. The action card that had incited the dark transformation laid there a few seconds before fading away into smoke.

* * *

The three Rangers all stood around the Insectoid. They created a vague triangular perimeter around the creature, preventing it from escaping.

There was a sudden drone from overhead, and Gia's stomach fell fifty feet.

Above them hovered the Warstar ship.

" _There is a way to defeat the Insectoid,_ " Gosei said, " _But the three of you must work in tandem_."

"Then we have to try," Emma said.

Suddenly each of the Rangers had a glowing card appear in their hands. They loaded the card into their morphers and hoped for the best.

A small portal opened from their devices and a small head resembling their Zords appeared in their hands.

Noah figured it out first and placed the head over the muzzle of his blaster, and the other Rangers followed suit.

"On the count of three," Emma said softly.

Each of the Rangers nodded.

"One." She said, sounding shaky.

"Two," Noah joined, a small blue light had begun to envelop the Insectoid as it was prepared to be transported away.

"Three!" Gia yelled.

They all fired at once, a large colored blast shooting from their blasters. For a moment each of the Rangers felt lost. As if they were one conjoint being.

And then something went wrong. Gia could feel her blaster heating up in her hand. The heat intensified until it scolded her gloves.

She thought of Brad and didn't let go.

In a blast of guts and fire, the Insectoid exploded.

And so did their blasters.

Each of the Rangers flew back, their armor fading in the air.

Gia hit a dumpster, her head ringing from the harsh impact.

Thankfully though, when her haze subsided she noticed that the swarm of Loogies around them had all collapsed. She assumed it would only be a matter of time before they all returned to their normal states.

Her brother included.

Gia leaned back against the metal dumpster, and despite everything around her she began to laugh.

* * *

Vrak screamed in frustration, his foot planted firmly under Creepox's long neck.

"I should very well snap you in half!" Vrak howled, putting enough pressure to crack the exoskeleton.

Creepox was silent, unmoving, he had long ago accepted his fate.

"I was _so_ close," Vrak said, "This planet was almost mine! And because of your incompetence, that filthy pus-sac of an Insectoid was destroyed."

"It is not because of him," A voice said from behind Vrak. "It was me."

Vrak turned around, his stomach brimming with fire. He looked right into Eezek's purple eyes.

"What was that?" Vrak asked, "Would you like to be the first to die?"

"Unfortunately for your temper, nobody is going to die tonight."

Vrak froze, he didn't know that voice.

Vrak lifted his spear into the air, ready for whatever came next.

But it would be impossible to prepare for this.

Two figures stepped into the throne room, behind them a small army of twitching black colored grunts.

"How are you alive?" Vrak asked the green figure dressed in fluffy red armor. "I killed you and destroyed your nest!"

"Our most loyal servant," Malkor said, wrapping his beefy arm around Eezek, "Managed to save two larvae from the nest and hid us from sight."

"Yess," The feminine Beezara said in a delighted voice, "He protected us so that we may reclaim the Warstar throne."

Vrak stepped off Creepox and took a defensives stance, "If I killed you once I can do it again."

"Don't kid yourself," Malkor said. "You had an army."

"I still have an army!" Vrak spat through closed teeth.

"Quite the contrary," Malkor replied, " _We_ have your army."

Vrak looked around nervously, noticing all of his remaining Insectoid formed a perimeter around him.

"This is what happens when you rule through fear alone," Beezara said, "Eventually they will rebel against you."

Vrak sprang into action, his spear flew forward, punching through the nearest Insectoid. The creature fell and Vrak leaped over its flailing body.

He descended down the hallway the buzz of Malkor's grunts, Stingwingers, following behind him.

Vrak moved as fast as his armor allowed, cutting down anything that got in his path. Green blood spilled, but he didn't care. A body was just another wall to him.

Finally, he found the small circular hole in the wall and dived inside. It closed behind him, sealing him in a small control room.

Vrak could hear the rank of various claws against the other side of the wall, but they were reinforced enough for Vrak to ignore it.

Vrak then sat down in the rather comfortable seat and engaged the escape pod.

The small ship broke free from the mothership and began to float meaninglessly into space, and Vrak activated the ship's thrusters.

He knew that the smartest move would be to call for Armada assistance, after all, the ship he just lost _was_ a loan from his father. But Vrak knew that the embarrassment would only further him from the rest of the family.

So instead the former Warstar general headed away from Earth and leaned back in the chair. He'd have plenty of time to think up a plan in the oncoming days.

* * *

Jake sat alone in his room, the dim light of the lamp on his nightstand reflecting against the posters of Power Rangers and half-naked girls.

He looked down at his morph card and the restored version of his helmet. Somehow he had cured himself of the blight.

Even though he had no idea how.

He looked down at his phone, he had probably close to ten texts from Noah. But Jake wasn't ready to face his friend just yet.

Still, his thumb hung over the dial button displayed on his screen.

He looked down at his desk, but his eyes drifted away from the card, and up towards the business card he had received from the man in the SUV.

He sighed and punched in the ten digits.

"Hello…" He said into his phone, "This is Jake, I was hoping you could put me through to Carlos."

* * *

Gia held her brother's hand so tight she could hardly even feel it. He sat in the bio-bed, still unconscious. The virus had begun to recede, with most of the green on his arms faded away completely. She knew that he'd get better, but that didn't help her from feeling any worse.

Things like this would keep happening, and they wouldn't stop until every monster was destroyed. It's the same that happened in Angel Grove, Silver Hills, and every other city with a Ranger team defending it.

Destruction would always follow in the wake of the Power Rangers and bring nothing but despair to those caught in the crossfire.

Gia stood up, setting her brother's hand down to his side. She'd have to find a way to keep her family safe while also saving the world.

* * *

Jayden at alone in the warm sand. The sun setting behind him, casting light across his form and skipping it across the smooth ocean. At his side was his bokken, lying crooked like a piece of driftwood.

He had come there to train, to use kata to clear his mind of the storm raging inside.

But he didn't have the energy.

"You look pretty down," A voice said from behind. "Want something to drink."

He turned around to see Emma, an iced coffee in her hand.

Jayden numbly took the drink with no real interest in drinking it.

Emma placed herself right next to Jayden in the sand.

Jayden felt a rush of adrenaline but didn't fight it.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Emma said, chewing on her straw.

"It's fine," Jayden said quickly, "You were trying to help."

"I don't want to bring it up if you're going to get mad again," Emma said, "But fighting just isn't the way to solve these kinds of problems."

"Yeah," Jayden mumbled, "I'm starting to figure that out. My old team was an extension of my will," Jayden explained, "We didn't need anything other than our own heritage to keep us together. This is different… it's all so complicated. I don't even know what I'm doing."

"It's okay," Emma said, resting her hand on his back. "We're all new to this."

Jayden nodded, that hadn't actually occurred to him previously.

Her hand felt warm, like a pulsing fire right between his shoulder blades. He didn't detract from the heat, he gave in to it. Absorbing it into his body.

Jayden looked at the girl next to him, the one that had tried so hard to pull him away from his shadowy existence. All he had ever done was get mad and push her away.

"I know I messed up and tore the team to shreds," Jayden admitted, "But do you think I can do better?"

"Yeah," Emma said softly. "Despite everything, I still believe in you."

Jayden didn't exactly know why his heart was beating so fast, or why he felt like a balloon moments away from sailing into the air.

But he didn't want it to end.


	14. The Sleeping Monster Stirs

"So, in theory, that's why it's entirely possible that the man from Tauren might have been more than a lunatic after all."

Gia's voice had fallen into a lazy drone, pure background music to the world around her.

"So what do you think?"

"Its… uh… great."

"You weren't listening," Gia said with a frown. "If you were listening you'd have something to say."

"No," Emma said, trying to hide her embarrassment, "I just think it's fine."

"You're Emma Goodall," Gia retorted, "You _always_ have something to say."

"I'm just out of it today," she admitted.

"I think it sounded good," Noah said from the other end of the cafeteria table.

The blonde only flashed him a small glare, but it was more than enough to scare him into silence.

"So spill the beans," Gia said, "what's on your mind?"

Emma was silent for a few moments. She looked over at Noah, sitting quietly. At Gia, looking largely irritated. Then to Jake, who had been weirdly withdrawn since the fight with Jayden.

 _Jayden…_

"It's just… the past two weeks have been quiet."

"So what?" Gia asked, "We earned this."

"Not to mention the whole Loogie metamorphosis was supposedly Vrak's master plan." Noah added, "Where can an evil warlord go after his master plan is foiled?"

Emma shrugged, she supposed that made sense. After all, half the city had been brainwashed Loogies. There wasn't a whole lot that could follow that up.

Still, that did little to reassure her inner anxiety.

Because that wasn't really what she was worried about…

* * *

The sound of wooden clanks bounced across the stone walls of the Command Center. Under the main control room was a large cavern that functioned as a training area. One that Jayden was keen to start using.

Lyra blocked the attack with grace and precision. Her movements were familiar but equally alien. She carried the spirit of a swordsman, but that spirit was locked into an entirely different cage.

"Why did you stop teaching the others?" She asked, almost flanking Jayden with her weapon.

"It was causing unrest," He replied simply.

"So?" She asked, jumped back as the bokken swooped past her face. "They're young, eventually they'd get used to the discipline."

"I'm not their mentor," Jayden replied, gritting his teeth as their weapons connected hard enough to numb his arms, "I'm just the Red Ranger."

"You're the leader," She replied, "Therefore it's your responsibility to ensure their successes."

"We can't be successful if we're at each other's throats."

Jayden swung down his bokken, but Lyra caught it and ripped it from his grip.

"That shows me how much foresight you _lack_ ," She said bitterly, throwing both weapons to the ground and walked off.

Jayden watched her go, a scowl spread across his face.

He didn't know what was worse to him, how alien she really was.

Or how familiar.

"Jayden," Tensou said and rolled over to the boy. "Gosei says that there's trouble."

Jayden couldn't help but crack a grin, at least trouble would clear his mind a little bit.

"Alright, I'm on it."

* * *

Emma landed on the soft grass and felt a bit out of place. The wind hit against her face, and the refreshing country air filled her nose.

"This is the first time we haven't had to protect a residential district," Noah observed. "That's interesting…"

"Coligan's," Emma read the wooden sign posted by the road. "That's only half a mile out of town."

"Stay alert," Jayden barked, "I see the hostiles." He pointed his sword forward, "Right there!"

True to his word a small posse of insect creatures were all crowding around a large red steer. The creatures were brownish with mantis-like appendages and folded wings. There were no Loogies, but there were at least seven of the new creatures.

Jayden led the charge, swinging into the first insect he could reach.

Interestingly it took the other creatures a few seconds to decide to counter-attack.

Actually, she suddenly realized, it was strange that they didn't attack _before_ Jayden had.

"These guys are tougher than the Loogies," Noah said as he unleashed a few blue volleys, noticing how they absorbed the blasts fairly well.

"But not quite as tough as the standard insectoid," Emma added. She then cast an eye towards Jake, who was fighting under a cloak of silence. He hadn't been very chatty as of late, and that was worrying. It was like the helmet over his head was somehow suppressing his personality. Turning him from an annoying chatterbox into a machine.

" _Watch out for those bugs_ ," Lyra said over the comm-link. " _They're known as Stingwingers. They can be pretty nasty…_ "

Emma then noticed a Stingwinger veering off from the attack, it moved swiftly and a silently as its shuffling body would allow, right towards the steer.

"I thought it was a stereotype," Emma said as she leaped into the air, "But I guess aliens really do have a thing for cows."

Emma hit the ground right in front of the enemy, but the uneven earth sunk below her, and her body tumbled downward.

She hit the dirt, and the Stingwinger jumped forward.

Emma then raised her Phoenix Shot, channeling its pink energy and blasting the creature in the chest.

"Comprethunder!" She screamed and a bolt of lightning hit the Stingwinger mid-air and exploded it into dust.

"Good move," Jayden commented.

 _Yeah_ , Emma thought, _better than I am_.

Her brain flashed back to the idea of becoming a machine. She had moved automatically as if there were gears in her veins.

Maybe the comparison was more realistic then she thought.

After a few well-placed attacks and some decent synchronization, the remaining Stingwingers took to the sky and quickly flew off.

Emma considered shooting them down, but even if she really wanted to she couldn't, because Tensou hadn't even fixed her blaster yet.

"Well that was certainly unusual," Noah commented, watching as they disappeared from sight.

* * *

"I think I've just about got it all figured out…" Noah said, fidgeting with the exposed wires stern out of the ship's control panel.

"How much longer?" Lyra asked, as anxious as ever.

Noah looked up at the girl, a hard expression on his face. She was certainly getting more and more restless as the days went by. It seemed to be connected to getting the transmitter working… whatever it was for.

Sparks erupted from the machine, and rolling smoke followed.

"What was that?" Lyra asked, rubbing her hands together. "It didn't look good."

"No," Noah grunted, "It certainly wasn't." He examined the device some more, looking at the soldering of the motherboard. "But maybe it did some good…"

"What do you mean?"

Noah looked things over in silence, chewing his lip and thinking.

"That mechanism that blew, I think that was what's been giving you so much trouble."

"Ah-okay."

"That's great!" Noah exclaimed, "Because now I know what needs to be replaced."

"Replaced? How are you supposed to replace it?"

"It doesn't look that complicated," Noah said, "They might sell something here that I can modify to work."

Lyra nodded, but she certainly didn't seem very confident.

* * *

The sound of pop music drifted calmly through the Juice Bar as Gia enjoyed the solemn moment with Emma.

Ever since they had all been dragged into the Ranger duties Emma had been practically glued to Jayden's side. Always trying to train, always trying to cheer his grumpy ass up.

Honestly, it was nauseating.

"So where is our humble leader?" Gia asked, not because she wanted to know, but because their other conversations had been horribly dry.

"Last I heard he was sparring with Lyra," Emma replied.

"Huh," Gia replied, "and that doesn't make you jealous?"

"Jealous? I'm just glad I get a day off. Ever since Jayden and Jake had their big fight he's been super hard on himself. I try to keep up but he's totally relentless."

She leaned back, already exhausted of the conversation. She secretly hated the way Emma's eyes lit up when she talked about Jayden. It almost seemed like she worshiped him sometimes.

Emma was always someone who liked a project. She was drawn to people who didn't exactly fit the grooves of society. Noah, Jake, hell even her.

But they were all justs kids, with simple young adult problems. Jayden was a child soldier, trained to kill.

Gia groaned, she was starting to think like Jake...

At that was when Gia noticed Brad sitting in the far corner of the juice bar. He was chatting with the boy that had called her to the gymnasium.

This wouldn't seem that out of the ordinary, he was a pretty popular guy around the high school, but what really threw her off was his _smile_.

He hadn't had that look in his eyes in years.

She watched, fixated, lost in time. The two talked, she assumed they were throwing jokes back and forth. For a second he almost looked like the young boy scattered around his Pokemon cards, sorting through his favorites.

And then he kissed the boy in front of him. Leaving Gia open mouth, looking as if she had seen the ghost of William Shakespeare himself quoting a soliloquy.

Brad quickly ran off, pulling his backpack over his shoulder as he slipped away.

"Where are you going?" Emma asked as Gia shot up.

"I don't know," She spat out as she broke into a run.

* * *

After a broken laptop, and a few hours of hard work, Noah was closer than ever to finish the repairs.

"I have to admit," Noah said, "I wasn't quite expecting the broken piece to be a lithium battery."

Lyra just shrugged, but her eyes didn't waver from the young boy. It reminded Noah of when a teacher lingered over his shoulder during a test.

It bothered him then, and it bothered him now.

"So," He said, trying to make lessen his anxiety with a little conversation. "What do you think about the Warstar attack today?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it was weird…" Noah explained, "They didn't seem to be doing anything other than trying to get those cows. I wonder what they want them for."

"Who knows," Lyra muttered.

Though Lyra couldn't see it Noah actually raised an eyebrow. After all, she had once said it was her job to study the Warstar.

Still, Noah kept his mouth shut and kept working.

* * *

Back home Gia found Brad sitting on the couch, his Xbox controller firmly in hand. She really hadn't been looking for him at first, just wondering around and trying to collect her own thoughts, but now that she saw him her heart began to twist.

"Hey…" She said, feeling her stomach creep up her throat.

"Hey," He said nonchalantly.

"Busy day?"

"Not really."

"Anything exciting happen to you today?"

He shrugged, "Nothing I can think of off the top of my head."

"Cool."

She chewed her lip, watching her brother's calm and relaxed face.

"Okay…" She said and began to walk towards her room. As she passed she couldn't help but stare, the fresh memories splashing around her head.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, stopping his game and flashing a worried expression.

"Yeah…" she said and turned back around.

She paused and looked back at her brother. "Do you remember when we were little and you accidentally killed my pet Gerbil and told me you accidentally let outside instead?"

"I don't think you'll ever let me forget. You and Emma practically got pneumonia looking for him. "

"Well, do remember after I found out? And I cried for like four hours?"

"Yeah?"

"And you promised you wouldn't lie to me ever again?"

"What's this about?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing," Gia muttered out in a panic before running to her bedroom.

She slammed the door behind herself and jumped face first into her pillow.

And she resisted the urge to scream her lungs out.

* * *

"Alright!" Noah exclaimed as the terminal exploded with color. "That should be it!"

Lyra watched with anxious excitement, "Does that mean it'll work now?"

"It should," Noah replied, beaming with pride and accomplishment. Deep down she had to admit that the boy was actually rather impressive. He was resourceful and intelligent; and if not for the limitations of the planet he could have become a revolutionary scientist.

It was almost a tragedy that he was stuck on such a remote mudball. He could have been cultivated and put to work, advancing the entire universe.

"Uh, you okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah," She replied, not entirely sure how long she had been standing in silence.

"Alright…" He replied, "Well, do you want to test it out?"

"Yeah," She said, "I can do that as soon as you leave."

A look of concern crossed his face. "Don't you think I should stick around, just in case something needs adjustments?"

"It'll be fine," Lyra snapped, "If something goes wrong I'll get you to fix it tomorrow."

A pang of anxiety punched her insides for a moment. She became worried that her outburst would blossom curiosity in the young boy, and lead to questions that might put her position in danger.

"I'm sorry…" she said, trying to sound sympathetic. "It's just personal."

"No, no," Noah muttered out awkwardly. "I totally get it."

With that he turned around and stepped towards the door. "I'll see you later," he said and slid outside.

Lyra waited a few minutes until she was completely sure he left, before moving to the keyboard attached to the terminal and punched a few keys into it.

" _Damn_ ," a voice said through the small speaker. " _I was starting to wonder if you even survived the landing._ "

"Takes a little more than some turbulence to take me out."

" _Well, you've got me there."_

"Anyway," she said into the microphone. "I've secured the trust of Gosei and his Rangers."

" _That's great!_ " The voice exclaimed. " _So when can I expect you to retrieve the G.M?_ "

Lyra felt her insides temporarily invert. "I'm-uh- still working on it."

" _Still working on it?_ " The voice asked. " _How hard can it really be?_ "

Lyra paused, feeling something strange crawling up her insides. "Gosei is more clever than I had initially assumed."

" _Right…_ " he replied. " _Just try to get it soon. I don't want to come down there and take it myself._ "

"Okay," she replied. "I'll get back to you as soon as I make some progress."

There was a groan from the other end of the device. " _Fine, but I'll be waiting._ "

Lyra abruptly broke the communication and jumped down onto her bed. The feeling had grown, causing her to feel dirty and sticky under her own skin.

Somehow, despite everything she had been through, she was now having doubts.

 **A/N: This is the start to a new arc of sorts, I had considering posting it an entirely different story but I feel like it has enough themes to this to keep it under the same title.**

 **But if I had to add a subtitle it would be this: Connecting to the legends of the past.**

 **Consider that a hint (;**


	15. The Road Trip

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jake asked as Gia drove her father's van down the busy intersection.

"I don't see why not," Emma replied from behind him. "I mean this is the first Saturday we've all had off in months. Plus there hasn't been a monster attack in two weeks."

"No, I don't mean that," Jake replied, "I mean, do you think it's a good idea to bring _them_." He said, pointing his finger back towards the very back seat, where Lyra and Jayden sat in between Noah.

"Don't be rude," Emma snapped, "We're all a team now, and that means we should have some bonding time."

"I doubt Jayden wants to bond," Jake replied, rubbing the sore knot on his forehead. "He probably wants to hit stuff."

"I wouldn't mind sparring," Jayden said, "But Emma wanted me to come."

Lyra shrugged. "I figured I might as well get some Earth culture while I'm here."

"Can you guys stop for a second," Gia snapped. "I'm trying to get us there in one piece."

In the fresh silence of the car, a new sight came into view.

A spinning Ferris wheel.

* * *

Angel Grove Amusement Park was one of the largest in the state. It was built from the rubble of the city's warehouse district after it was nearly flattened during the Space Ranger's final battle. The idea was to draw people back to the city while generating some income as well.

And it mostly worked, bringing loads of people back into the city and kick-starting the nearly bankrupt economy.

None of this was known to Jayden. In fact, the only thing he knew was that this place was so loud he could hardly even think.

There were people all around him, screaming, smiling, and just generally enjoying themselves.

The whole ordeal was admittedly overwhelming, to say the least.

"You okay?" Emma asked him.

"Yeah," he replied, "Just trying to take it all in."

He looked at her smile and felt a weird tangle of emotions. They were electric but pleasant.

He offered her a smile.

And she replied with a beaming expression.

"Let's start slow," Emma said. "Have you ever had a blooming onion?"

"I don't think so," he replied.

"Well that's a good place to start," she said.

"You guys have fun with that," Jake said, "but me and Noah are gonna go hit some rides."

"Sounds good," Lyra said. "I'll go along with you two." And she moved towards Jake and Noah.

"Looks like I'm with you guys," Gia said to Emma while casting a distasteful look towards the other trio.

And then the two groups went their own ways.

* * *

For the first time in Jake's life, he felt like a bit of a third wheel. He lagged slightly behind Noah and Lyra as the two chatted between each other. Sure, it wasn't anything romantic, mostly just Noah explaining random Earth facts, but there was an obvious connection between the two.

And Jake hadn't really talked to Noah since the fight at the beach.

Lyra looked at as a rollercoaster cart flew overhead. Her eyes ignited with interest as it zoomed by.

Jake noticed a definite switch in the alien girl. She seemed more lighthearted, more open to jokes. Jake had always been good at reading people, and ever since that girl arrived he could sense she was putting up an act.

He was absolutely positive she was really a stick in the mud, but there had to be something more to her.

"How safe can that really be?"

"Pretty safe," Noah answered. "Well, there are only fifty-two amusement park related deaths per year."

Lyra nodded, "Let's try that one." She said and pointed towards a twisted mess of tracks.

"Aw man," Jake interjected, "Remember last year, Gia threw up on that one."

"Yeah," Noah said. His voice wasn't negative, but instead mildly dismissive of Jake.

Jake lowered his head and walked in silence up to the line.

* * *

In the end, he did what he was absolutely best at.

And watched her from afar.

He watched as she smiled shyly next to the Earth-born accompanying her.

And he was almost sick to his stomach.

He looked around, knowing that he still had a mission to finish.

And followed her instead.

* * *

J ayden looked down at the large piece of food laying across his plate and tried to resist the urge to gag.

The smell was overwhelming, so greasy and pungent.

Yet Emma broke off a piece and threw it into her mouth.

The smile on her face completely contradicted the smell.

"Come on," she said, "try it."

Jayden took a chunk of fried breading and onion from the paper plate and held it up to his face.

Even Gia had indulged in some of it. It couldn't be that bad.

He shrugged and crunched down on the food.

At first, he thought he was going to get sick, the greasy flavor washed over his tongue and coated his mouth.

And then he started to like it

He took another bite soon after, and another after that. He was practically shoveling them in his mouth before he even knew it.

"I take it you're impressed," Emma said with a grin.

Jayden just nodded, his mouth too full to speak.

"So Emma," Gia said abruptly. Speaking in a slow sort of voice that wasn't like her.

"Yeah?" Emma replied.

"Do you think Brad has been a little… weird?"

"You mean since he got turned into a Loogie?"

"No… I mean… maybe?" Gia responded, biting her bottom lip.

"Not really," Emma responded, "At least nothing I've noticed."

"Alright," she breathed.

"Why? Do you think something is wrong?"

"No...yes… I don't know. I'm not really sure honestly." Gia looked around nervously. "It's probably nothing anyway."

Gia looked away from them and looked off towards the distance. At that moment she was a million miles away.

And then, as abrupt as a twig breaking in the woods Gia suddenly shot up.

"I'll be right back guys," she spat and suddenly disappeared into the crowd.

* * *

"Why the hell is he here?" Gia asked under her breath as she moved through the crowd. She was a couple feet behind him, and the flow of people would occasionally obscure his location, but regardless of that Gia kept her pace.

It was the boy that had called her to the gymnasium a few weeks ago.

The boy she saw her brother kissing…

Walking beside him was another girl, long auburn hair. She seemed to be in her younger teens. The two were talking and laughing. Smiling at each other like two models in a pamphlet.

Gia knew she probably looked crazy, hell she _felt_ crazy, but she needed answers.

Gia watched as Axel took a large gulp of water. His lips wet and glimmering in the sun.

The same lips that landed across her brother's.

And suddenly she snapped.

"What the hell was that about!" She screamed and rushed towards him.

He froze, looking over at Gia with a confused expression. Some other people in the area had paused as well, presumably to watch the drama unfold.

She moved without thinking, slapping Axel right across his face.

"Why the hell did you kiss my brother?" She screamed and tried to swing again, but Axel caught her hand.

"Umm… because he's my boyfriend?" He said with an even more puzzled look on his face.

Gia froze, and for a second she felt as if her heart had stopped beating.

In a few moments that would hardly even matter, because a few feet away a random person's skin fell off, revealing a hide of green scales, and jumped right for the three of them.

Axel moved in almost immediately, kicking the creature back with reflexes that surprised Gia.

"You…" the creature hissed at Gia. "You smell like… _them_."

It wasn't long before a couple of the maintenance workers turned towards them as well, mischievous looks on their faces as their skin began to peel.

And that was when Gia knew it was time to run.

* * *

"Is that guy giving us a weird look?" Jayden asked with a concerned expression.

"He's security," Emma said. "That's his job."

"I don't know. He's looking at us pretty hard."

"Just relax," Emma said, her hand on his shoulder as she stood up to throw her plate away. "Not everyone is out to get you."

Then the man leaped towards Emma.

Jayden jumped up and knocked the man away before he could make contact with the Pink Ranger. His body fell against a table and slid across the metal surface.

He jumped up, his face peeling away to reveal green scales.

 _Nighlok?_ Was Jayden's first thought when seeing the monstrosity in front of him.

But he knew that wasn't the case since he had seen to their destruction himself.

Not that he was any more comfortable at that moment.

Emma screamed, and when Jayden turned around he was met by several more creatures. They formed a loose circle around the duo.

He looked down at the bag sitting at his table, where his morpher was resting inside of. The civilians around them had mostly fled, but there will still too many to risk morphing.

Jayden bit his lip, trying to think of a solution to the dilemma.

In a flash, Emma training kicked in, and she kicked one of the oncoming creatures backward.

"We have to get to somewhere hidden," she said, carefully watching the enemy, awaiting their next move

She may have had the raw reflexes to counteract a few of those strange creatures at once, but their numbers were quickly multiplying. Repairmen, shop vendors, it seemed to Jayden that every single employee of the park was a lizard in disguise.

Holding off five different lizard creatures finally caught up with Emma, and when she kicked her foot out it missed. The enemy grabbed hold of her ankle and pulled her down.

Emma yelled as she hit the ground, but unfortunately, she hit the back of her head against the concrete floor and lost consciousness.

Jayden felt his stomach ignite with flames. He punched one of the enemy's in the face and charged headfirst towards Emma. Two more monsters were knocked back in his fury, but he didn't even notice their decent.

At that moment nothing mattered except for saving Emma.

But what the young warrior knew, just wouldn't admit, anger often clouded the mind, and he wasn't able to sense the reptile monster flanking his side.

It's fist hit against the side of his head, causing his world to spin like a top.

Jayden fell backward and into the arms of two of the creatures. They held him tighter then he'd ever hope to escape.

And began to drag him and Emma away.

* * *

Noah, Jake, and Lyra all dashed through the panic. From the moment the first lizard person appeared panic followed.

"This would be a good time for the Power Rangers," Jake muttered under his breath, fighting the growing panic.

"If we can find a place to morph," Noah replied.

Jake knew that he shouldn't feel so satisfied, but this was the first time Noah had talked to him in weeks.

"There!" He called and pointed towards the bathroom.

"Gross," Noah said with a frown.

The trio was only a few paces away from the bathroom, and two lizards immediately jumped out from the wooden doors.

Jake froze, realizing that they must have been waiting to ambush them.

"These things are pretty smart," Jake said.

"Or something smart is telling them what to do," Noah observed.

The three turned around, only to see that the path they had just taken was now filled by a dozen of the creatures. Some still carried the elastic like flesh disguise, while others had their entire green faces visible, yellow eyes glaring.

"Well ,we're pretty much screwed…" Jake said and tried to take a defensive stance.

One of the reptiles stepped forward, growing with a mouth full of foam. It bent its knees and prepared to leap.

And then the creature fell over.

The three looked around wildly as another creature fell.

"Don't worry, my blaster is set to stun," a voice said from behind the enemies.

"This would be a great time to get the hell out of here," Jake said, but when he turned to his friends he was met with a strange sight. Lyra stood completely still, a disturbed expression painted across her face.

By then there was a small walkway through the wall of creatures, and a boy dressed in a white uniform approached.

"Galactic protocol, but I'm sure Lyra could tell you that." The boy flashed a cheesy smile, his weapon still raised.

"Kel," She whispered softly, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well," He began, "I was here to arrest Verton, but I think I've stumbled upon a much better catch."


	16. An Old Foe's Wrath

Gia, Axel, and the other girl all darted down the pavilion. Green monsters stalked every corner of the park. They didn't have any real interest in the fleeing civilians, but they were definitely interested in the three of them.

"So where exactly are we going?" Gia asked as Axel led them forward.

" _We're_ going to find my mom," Axel muttered, "I don't care where you go."

Gia felt like she'd been slapped across the face. "Uh, that's not how this works."

He flashed her a confused expression, "How what works?"

"I tell you to go safety," She retorted.

Another creature leaped at Axel, but he quickly knocked it away. "Why?"

 _Because I'm a Power Ranger!_ She almost yelled in frustration. "Uh, just because…"

"Axel!" a voice exclaimed through the mass.

Two creatures flew backward and a middle-aged woman with brown hair and a pink tank top rushed towards them.

She smiled over at Gia, she seemed nice enough. There was something _weird_ about her, she stirred a feeling in Gia's chest that she couldn't place.

"I saw those things taking some people to the employee lounge," The woman in the tank top explained, "I was worried they got you two."

"No we're fine," Axel said, "I'm just glad you're okay."

She just smiled, "This isn't my first rodeo."

"So what now?" The younger girl asked.

"I saw an emergency exit a couple feet back," The woman explained. "I can take you guys there."

" _You_ can go," Gia said, feeling slightly irritated by the woman's authority. "I need to find the rest of my friends."

"You're already split up," the woman said, "it'll be safer if you regroup after you escape."

Gia could feel her own irritation growing. Mostly because she felt like this woman was pulling the same tricks she used to get people away from monsters.

"I wouldn't worry about your friends…" a slimy voice said from above.

Gia looked up to see a similar reptilian creature, only his skin was covered in bluish scales with blood red eyes and a golden trident at his side. He stood on top of one of the vendor trailers, smiling through his meaty lips.

"You'll be joining them soon enough."

As more of the green creatures came to the scene Gia could feel her heart pounding against her chest. If she didn't do something soon she'd be royally screwed.

Gosei forgive her, she was about to break one of the golden rules.

Gia reached inside her bag, feeling around for the heavy device.

"What are you doing?" The woman asked, "You guys need to clear out of here."

"Sorry mom," Axel said, pulling a metal stake from the ground. "You'll have to try harder to get rid of me."

As the creatures closed in on the four of them Gia felt the familiar weight of her morphed and pulled it out.

"It's Morphin' Time!" She called as yellow light enveloped her.

"Woah!" Axel exclaimed, "I didn't know you were a Power Ranger."

Axel's mom shrugged, "I didn't know they still said that."

The green creatures charged towards them but weren't expecting the Yellow Ranger's claw weapon to swing into them.

"I wasn't expecting a fully morphed Ranger so soon," The bluish creature hissed, "I guess I'll have to get a little involved."

The creature jumped down towards them. Axel moved first, swinging the metal stake like a club towards the enemy.

But he caught the swing full on and kicked the boy backward.

"I can see why my minions came after you," the creature said. "You so look much like _her_."

"Well I'm right here," The woman said. "So there's no reason for you to beat on my son."

"Oh that's where you're wrong," The creature hissed. "You took _everything_ from me. I was left to fend for myself when Rita abandoned me like month old takeout." The creature armed his trident and pointed it towards Axel's fallen form. "Now I'm going to take something from you."

The Yellow Ranger moved in to interfere. Sure, she didn't exactly like the guy, but he didn't deserve to be a shish kabob. But as she took stance several more grunts jumped in front of her.

The blue reptilian smiled again and shoved his weapon downward.

* * *

"So who the hell is this guy?" Jake asked.

Lyra frowned. "Kel Orana. The universe's biggest kiss ass."

Kel's smile flickered for a moment before he regained his posture. "Interesting friends," he commented, looking towards Jake and Noah. "You always had an affinity for bad company."

"Hey, uh, not to ruin the reunion," Jake muttered nervously, "But those creeps are getting closer."

Kel laughed and blasted one of the creatures back. "Vector's species can reproduce lower lifeforms asexually. These things are nothing but low-grade fodder."

Something in Lyra snapped and Jake watched as she reached towards her hip and drew a hidden blaster.

Something in her eyes told Jake the weapon wasn't set on stun mode.

But Kel was faster, and he shot the blaster from her hand and grabbed hold of her twitching arm.

"You're under arrest."

"For what?" She spat.

"Aiding an intergalactic terrorist," he said with a hint of satisfaction. "On top of threatening an officer."

Noah moved faster than Jake even thought possible. He lunged forward towards Kel, ready to rip Lyra from his grip.

And Kel simply fired several blasts directly into the Blue Ranger's chest.

Noah fell back, his body spasming around wildly.

Jake clenched his fists together and prepared to give that asshole the beating of a lifetime.

Then they were surrounded by a bright light.

* * *

Gia hit the stone cold ground harder than she'd expected. Her armor disappeared in the teleport and she landed on her butt yelping out as pain ran up her spine.

Yet the brown-haired woman landed like a professional.

"Well that was a trip down memory lane," She muttered.

"Uh, Gosei…" Jake said, having appeared in the Command Center at the same time as her. "Who are these guys?"

"Kim Martin," She said with a sideways grin.

"Or," Noah said, "Kimberly Hart."

Jake and Gia both flashed confused expressions towards the Blue Ranger. "My mom had the 1996 Pan Global games on an old VHS. I watched it a lot as a kid," He replied with an embarrassed expression.

"Yeah...that's right," She said, "And these two are my kids. Axel-"

"Rebecca," The younger girl replied.

"They were getting attacked by the leader of those scaley freaks," Gia replied, "I'm assuming that's why Gosei saved them."

"That is not all," Gosei replied, his eyes reignited with their green glow.

"Woah," Kimberly said, "That's… kinda familiar."

"What is that suppose to mean?" Jake asked.

"I'm not exactly new to this whole Ranger stuff," Kimberly said with a shrug. "I may or may not have been the first Pink Ranger."

Jake's mouth hung open so wide a fly could have easily flown down his throat.

"Dude," Jake said in a soft voice, "I kissed a poster of you when I was four."

"Okay…" Kimberly said, then turned back to Gosei. "So, since you're the giant head I'm going to assume you're in charge."

"That is correct," Gosei said, "And might I add, it is a pleasure to have one of Zordon's original Power Rangers in my presence."

"Thanks," Kimberly said, "But who are you exactly?"

"I am Gosei, Guardian of Earth," He said in his dramatic voice. "I was created by Zordon to watch over the Earth in his absence."

Kimberly just shrugged, "Sounds about right."

"Hey, mom…" Axel said. His eyes were wide as he scanned over everything around him.

Somewhere, in the darkest pit of her soul, Gia wished Gosei had been a few seconds late…

She paused, feeling a painful jab in her guts, thinking like that definitely crossed the line.

"Yeah, hun?" Kimberly hummed back.

"Why is the first time we're hearing about this?" He asked.

Kimberly sighed, "Every mom has her secrets."

"You were a Power Ranger," Rebeca retorted, "That has to be the biggest secret EVER."

"Wait a second," Jake said, "Pause the family drama. Where's Emma and Jayden?"

Gosei was silent for a few moments, then he spoke in a slightly disturbed voice. "They have been captured by the enemy."

"Verton has two of your Rangers?" Kimberly asked.

Gia hadn't been worried until she saw the look on Kimberly's face.

"I'm assuming you and that blue guy have history," Axel said.

"Something like that," Kimberly replied. "It was a LONG time ago, right when I met your dad to be exact."

"You met dad in Paris," Rebecca said, "So why is this guy in California?"

"How am I supposed to know? This place is a hub for weird stuff anyway."

"As much as I hate to agree with Jake," Gia spoke up, "But shouldn't we be saving our friends from the evil reptiles?"

"Fish," Noah suddenly blurted.

"Huh?" Gia asked.

"Those monsters, they're fish, or amphibians at the very least."

"Who cares?" Jake said. "We need to find the best way to kick their asses."

"I can not safely send the three of you into the fray," Gosei explained. "You're numbers are too weak."

"I have something that might help," Kimberly said and reached into her pocket. She drew a large coin and held it in the air. "Zordon drained the last of its energy, but maybe you can re-energize it."

"No…" Gosei said, "I have something better in mind."

Tensou appeared from a small square hole in the wall and grabbed Kimberly's coin in a swift swipe before rolling off towards a workbench.

"I shouldn't be surprised that he has a robot," Kimberly said, "But that was weird."

Sparks began to fly across the workbench as Tensou used his various stick-like arms to work on _something_.

"You're Power Coin is completely void of power," Gosei explained, "We would need an immense power source to re-energize it enough to establish a morph. But it's framework remains, as does the facit of the Morphing Grid it attached to."

"What does that even mean?" Rebeca asked.

"It means that he can duplicate the channel and feed a new power into it," Lyra offered.

Everyone's eyes fell onto her.

"At least that's my best guess," She said with a blushing face.

"You are correct," Gosei said. As he spoke Tensou turned around with two Gosei Morphers on a small silver tray. "We were able to recover Jayden's and Emma's Morphers from the amusement park and have tailored two new temporary Power Cards."

"Great," Jake said, "So who's gonna use them."

"I will," Rebecca exclaimed.

"Are you serious?" Axel asked, "You're just gonna jump right in?"

"Is there a problem with it?" She asked.

"Hell yeah!" Axel said, "That means _I_ have to do this too." He said and took the other Morpher.

"Are you sure?" Kimberly asked, "I can take one if you need me to."

"No," Axel replied, "This is on me."

Gia felt her insides twist at the idea of working with _him_ , "Maybe she _should_ do it. After all, she has more experience."

"Are you kidding?" He asked, "After she tore her ACL I don't want to put my mom in any more danger."

Gia looked towards Kimberly, expecting to see some sort of anger towards the comment, but she merely smiled weakly.

"I'm going with," Lyra said.

"Even with that space policemen after you?" Jake asked.

Gia arched an eyebrow, that was something she'd have to get the details on later.

"If I don't confront him now he's just going to keep coming back," she said. "I have to stop him before things get any worse."

"You have proven yourself to be an important ally for this team," Gosei told her, "And that shall be rewarded."

She looked down and one of their black colored blasters appeared in her hand.

A small, but profoundly sincere smile crossed her face. "Thank you…" She breathed.

"Now come on," Jake said, "We have some friends to save."

* * *

The blue creature frowned as he placed a strange device over Emma's head.

Jayden fought against his chained restrains, he wished he had his Morpher, hell even his Samuraizer, anything that could fry this fish freak.

"I'm working on it," It mumbled out loud, "I said I'm _working on it_."

What Jayden found the most perplexing was that he couldn't figure out who the creature was talking too.

After the device was resting over Emma's temple like a metal headband the blue creature turned to a small laptop that was rigged with various ugly wires that ran out in all directions.

Pink strands of electricity began to leak from the device as her still unconscious body began to faintly glow in the dusk.

Despite the fact she wasn't awake, Jayden could see a pained expression on her face.

"What the hell are you doing to her?" He asked.

"Don't worry," The creature said, "You'll be next."

Jayden fought against the chains, causing the dirty metal to ring out in the silent room.

A drive like a fire burned in him, pushing him forward, even as the cuffs rubbed his wrists raw. He felt a familiar drive, one that had been dormant for so long.

He felt the same way he had when he was fighting Nighloks, the sole reason for entire existence.

He now felt that towards saving Emma.

 **A/N: Noticed the numbers on this story were lower than normal so I thought it might help to experiment a bit. Would you guys like one large chapter in a week or two smaller chapters in a week? I would definitely appreciate feedback on the matter :)**


	17. Verton's Last Stand

The six teenagers hit the ground right by the employee lounge, where Kimberly had said she had seen the creature's taking people.

And Jake was starting to feel a bit excited. With Jayden captured this would be the best time to show the others that he was capable of leading the team, that he had the right stuff to be a leader, even if he wasn't wearing red.

He took a step forward, thinking of his speech carefully. These words were important, they would definitely go down in history.

"Alright, blasters up, Morphers ready," Gia said in a cold tone.

Jake frowned, good words if only he'd said them.

"Go!" She called and kicked down the door.

A boom echoed through the room as the fallen door slammed against the floor. A plume of dust flew through the air.

And quickly settled over the scattered green bodies sprawled across the floor.

"Well this isn't good," Jake muttered.

"What do you mean?" Axel asked, "Less work for us."

"I don't think he was talking about that," Rebecca said, "I think he was talking about _him_."

Kel just laughed. "You guys are as predictable as ever."

A souvenir cup behind Kel's head suddenly exploded.

"Get Troy and Emma," Lyra said in a dark voice. Her weapon still raised. "I can handle the rest."

"Yeah fine," Kel said, "But keep Verton alive for me. I'll be coming down to get him later."

"Sounds good," Jake said, following Gia and the others as they moved further into the building.

* * *

"So how does it feel?" Lyra asked Kel with a smirk, "Being the best officer now that I'm gone?"

Kel shrugged, "It'll be a lot sweeter once I have you in handcuffs."

Lyra ducked as two stun blasts zoomed over her head, and she rolled behind an overturned table. Lyra closed one eye and peeked out for a moment, using her new toy to fire a blast of yellow tinted energy.

Kel swore as his blaster was knocked out of his hand. "I'm assuming your _friend_ taught you how to shoot like that," He muttered, "Because you were never that good at the academy."

"He taught me more than the academy every could," She said, fiddling with her new weapon. She found her hand running across its smooth handle, looking for a stun button.

When had she ever cared about stunning an enemy?

She peaked back up and shot right for his chest. Sparks flew from his body but his uniform was energy resistant and took a large portion of the blast.

"You think your lineage is a privilege," Kel growled, slowly picking himself up. "But you're nothing but a brat."

He flipped the table out of the way and swung down with his metal baton, the curved surface connected with her shoulder and she instantly dropped her new weapon.

Kel kicked her in the stomach, and she slumped down to her hands and knees.

"I can't wait to see the look on your father's face. He's been worried sick about you, I'm going to love watching that turn to disgust."

That finally ignited the gasoline in Lyra's belly. She grabbed hold of Kel's foot and pulled as hard as she could, sending him tumbling downwards, crashing hard on his back.

She grabbed her gun on pounced on top of him.

"Tell me why I shouldn't blow your head off," She snarled.

"Because," He said in a slimy voice, "You're still better than that no-good terrorist you've been playing pirate with."

* * *

"This place isn't creepy at all," Jake said as they stepped down the stone stairs. The walls around them were sandstone and covered in dust. It seemed that the employee's lounge was just the entrance to a greater cave.

The around the Rangers was steadily getting cooler, it was probably twenty degrees cooler in the musky cavern than the outside.

"Soo," Gia said to one of the teens she had brought with her, Axel. "You and my brother are really… you know… ?"

"Dating?"

"Yeah...that," Gia said, feeling her stomach bottom out for the millionth time that day.

"I mean I'm pretty sure," Axel replied, "We never had an official title, but it would be pretty hard to misinterpret our relationship."

Gia nodded, but she was gritting her teeth. She was trying to keep her cool, especially since she needed this kid to save Troy and Emma,

She just needed to keep her cool…

"How is Brad," Axel asked, "He hasn't talked much since he got turned into...whatever that was…"

"He's fine," she said.

"Oh, okay…" He replied, clearly taken back by her cold shoulder.

"So weird question," Jake said, "But where are all of the monsters?"

"Maybe the only guards were the ones at the entrance," Noah suggested.

"Doesn't that seem a little strange though?" Rebecca replied.

"I don't know," Noah said, "We've never dealt with a single enemy. We've only ever fought the Warstar."

"Those the bug freaks I've seen on the news?" She asked.

"Yeah," Jake replied, "And they're way uglier in person."

"Speaking of ugly," Gia muttered as they entered a larger compartment of the cave. "Look north!"

Everyone turned to see a single green colored creature staring at them. It flicked it's outer gills at them and hissed.

"Gills," Noah said, "So they're more akin to fish then reptiles."

"Who cares?" Jake said, "Let's just kick their asses and get our team back."

"Ah, Rangers!" A voice exclaimed, "You're late."

Out from the darkness of the cavern, the blue creature appeared.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Verton, former grunt of Rita Repulsa. But now I'm making my own future."

"Cute," Jake said, "But now I'm gonna kick your ass!" He rushed forward with his morpher extended out and morphed into the Black Ranger.

He ran with his ax raised, filled with as much vigor as ever.

And Verton simply kicked him in the stomach.

He Ranger fell forward, his armor flickering for a second.

"I'll cover you," Noah called and morphed into his blue form, firing from his bow gun.

The blasts hit against Verton and the blue fish monster jumped backward. The space between him and the Rangers was filled by a posse of the green grunts.

Gia was next, her armor surrounded and she used her claw weapon to swing into the monsters.

"I'm going after fish face," Axel spat. "Anyone who wants to come with feel free."

He quickly broke into the ranks of the grunts, his sister close behind him.

Gia groaned Jake and Noah were both distracted by the army, and without help, those two would be doomed.

Gia blasted the nearest adversary in the head and followed behind.

* * *

Jake fought hard against the green freaks, with each swing of his ax bodies were flying.

He looked towards Noah, noticing that the Blue Ranger was having trouble keeping up. He had lost the space needed to aim was instead wildly swinging his bowgun.

He leaped over to his aid, clearing enough breathing room for him to continue shooting.

"Thanks," Noah said from behind his sights.

"No problem," Jake said cooly.

He felt a twist in his guts and found himself speaking, "I'm sorry for what happened bro."

Noah was silent for a few crushing moments. Then he spoke, "I know you are." he blasted down a creature before it could flank Jake. "It wasn't you, it was that crazy Power Card. But still… the anger that was in your voice…" Noah trailed off.

"I know what you mean," Jake replied, "And it was that anger that really scared me. It was why I ran away in the first place."

"I was worried things wouldn't go back to the way they were," The Blue Ranger said.

"Well don't," Jake said and summoned a giant boulder that tore through the grunts like bowling pins. "Because I'm still the same asshole, and that isn't going to change."

Noah laughed, and the two of them continued their assault.

* * *

Gia tried to catch up with the two temporary Rangers as they chased after the blue creature. They descended even deeper into the cave, into a dank area where water dripped across the walls and collected in dirty pools. The ceiling was getting higher as well, an inclination to Gia that they were actually in a naturally formed cavern.

Verton suddenly stopped and whipped around. They were now all standing on solid ground, at the very heart of the cavern.

And Gia could hear the screams from a few feet away.

"I knew a few of you would be stupid enough to follow me," Verton said. "You Rangers are all so easily predictable. Keep a few of you in a cage and you'll swarm like moths to a light."

From behind the blue creature, two more monstrosities appeared. They stood about seven foot tall, bulking greenish bodies with bulging muscles and covered in plated armor.

"What do you think of them?" Verton asked. "Took a helluva lot longer to bake, but I think they're worth the effort."

Gia drew her blaster and fired off a few shots, but the yellow energy merely bounced off them as if it were nothing.

"Did I forget to mention that?" Verton sneered with satisfaction, "That armor makes them immune to energy attacks."

Gia swore as she holstered her gun and switched to her claw weapon.

One of the green brutes swung down with its ax and Gia jumped to the side, flanking its midsection with her weapon and generating a rush of sparks.

But the creature still stood, as stoic and impenetrable as ever.

"You look like you could use some help," Axel said from a few paces behind her.

Gia mumbled under her breath. There was nothing she wanted more than to simply crush the two titans before her without even an inkling of help, but unfortunately, that didn't seem possible in her current state.

"So we just slid the cards into… the mouth?" Axel asked, fumbling the device around in his hands.

One of the giant fish orcs noticed the struggling teen and lumbered over towards him. A hungry expression on its face.

"Y-yeah let's just give that a try," he said and put the card inside of the morpher.

Rebecca mimicked him and their morphers ignited with life.

Two new Rangers stood in the path of the charging figure. Their armor was similar to the other Rangers with hints of original Rangers of Angel Grove. They both sported helmets like their mother's original pterodactyl, though Axel's matched his red suit. The rest of the armor was like that of Gia's, with the white pants and the open jacket, though instead of the golden emblem they simply had a diamond over their chests.

The Red Ranger jumped to the side, while the Pink Ranger sailed right over the beast.

They both fired arrows of energy from their bows, and the creature ignited with light.

The monster fell to the ground, smoke pouring from its massive body.

"Not so bad for a first try," Axel said smugly.

Right before the other brute knocked him away with a swing of its meaty hand.

Despite the gravity of the situation she still found enjoyment in watching him.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Rebecca asked, "Or are you going to help my brother?"

"Yeah," Gia said, lifting her claw weapon, "I suppose I could do that."

* * *

Lyra felt her hand begin to shake.

Kel just smiled.

Finally, she lowered the gun.

"I'm sorry…" She said, feeling as if she were moments away from crashing to the ground.

Lyra felt a rush of electricity as Kel elbowed her in the chest. She dropped the gun and fell forward, the boy snaked past her and held the gun to her back.

"You forgot the first rule of being a galactic officer," he sneered, "Never let your guard down."

* * *

Gia swung her claw against the beasts hide, pulling down a small rush of sparks.

Still, it wasn't enough to bring down the beast.

"Is someone gonna help me?" Gia asked as she fought off the beast.

"Maybe if you hadn't let my brother get curb stomped!" The Pink Ranger replied at the Red Ranger's side. Gia scowled as she dodged another attack.

Sparks flew from its back and it fell to the ground, where Jake stood behind it.

"We cleaned up the guys upstairs," Noah said.

"So we figured you could use some help," Jake finished ax in hand.

"Jake, with me," Gia said. "Noah, think of something while it's distracted."

"Distracted?" Jake asked. "What's supposed to distract that thing?"

"Us," Gia said, jumping into the air with her weapon raised.

"You're crazy," Jake said as his ax deflected the creature's meaty arm.

"Yeah," Gia said, "I know."

The creature roared and swung its tree trunk arms, knocking both Rangers backward and crashing into a wall. It then narrowed it's green reptilian eyes, lumbering towards them.

Gia felt the heat of the beast as it stood over her, it's hot breath rolling across her suit.

But right as it lifted its arm it was overcome with energy. Pink and red energy came together and formed the shape of a pterodactyl. The attack hit the giant creature in the back and completely overwhelmed it, causing it to crash to the ground.

"Thank us later," Axel said, his smug face peeking through his cracked visor.

Gia picked herself up and rushed towards the open door that Verton escaped through.

* * *

If Verton had sweat glands they would be pouring. He frantically danced around the machinery, putting everything into place for when he sat that pesky Red Ranger into it.

He had to move fast though because the other Rangers would surely be on his trail.

Once the machines were set up Verton approached the Ranger, who was still fighting against the chains as if he believed that he could bend steel.

"Oh calm down," Verton said. "You're gonna go on a walk soon anyway."

Realizing that the Ranger would be hard to transport in this state Verton turned his trident to stun mode and pressed it against the boy's side.

He screamed out in agony, falling to his knees as his body shook.

After a few moments Verton let go, but Jayden immediately sprang back up.

So he turned the knob up and stabbed him again.

"Stop!" the girl said. "You're going to hurt him."

"Not if he just cooperates," Verton said, holding the weapon against the boy until his body went completely limp.

This time he didn't move.

Verton then removed him from the chains and brought him over to the device. He placed Jayden in the chair and cuffed his hands to the wood. Once that was done Verton placed a series of suction cups on important energy points across his body.

"What are you doing to him?" The girl asked.

"I wouldn't worry about that," Verton said with a sneer. "Not until it's your turn at least."

Just then the door to that part of the cavern burst open and five Rangers appeared.

"I should have known you'd arrive whenever it was most inconvenient for me," Verton spat.

"Well," The Yellow Ranger said, "Why don't you let go of my friends before I kick your scaley skull in."

"You can have them as soon as I'm done," Verton said. He knew that at this rate he wouldn't be able to harvest the other teens but at the very least he could get the energy from him.

So he pulled the lever and watched as the boy's body pulsed with red lightning.

He screamed as the energy tore through him, gripping the edge of the chair with his pale fists.

The amount of energy he was outputting was astonishing, it was more than triple what Verton had calculated. Even if the boy was the only one he got to harvest it wouldn't matter.

And then the boy's scream intensified, growing so loud it was ear piercing.

The machine itself began to wine as its internal components were stressed to their max.

"No, no, no!" Verton howled running over to the system and pulling as many wires as he could, trying to prevent the system from completely overloading.

Unfortunately, as the machine began to pulsate with energy, he realized he it was too late.

Verton felt his heart shatter as the machine exploded, raining down tons of sparks and shrapnel.

He watched as the Rangers moved in and he saw the writing on the wall.

If the Rangers didn't destroy him then his master surely would.

He reached over to his desk and threw a small round device down and the Ranger's feet.

It immediately exploded outwards, throwing them all in various directions, using the advantage Verton rushed over to a small room. The metal box wasn't much bigger than a closet but a large rope hung down.

Verton used his scaly paws, and his advanced mobility to quickly climb up.

* * *

Gia wanted to rush after the blue creature but she felt a glove on her shoulder. She looked over to see the Blue Ranger.

"He can't hurt anyone anymore."

Gia shook her head. He would. They always do. But she also knew that fighting with Noah would be pointless, so she let the matter end.

The Rangers unstrapped Jayden and Emma. Emma seemed very much aware and cohesive, but Jayden was more than a little drained by the encounter.

Emma rushed over to Jayden and helped the unsteady Ranger stand up. His legs shook so violently they were vibrating.

He looked up with glassy eyes and said, "Who are these new guys?" Before passing back out.

"We should go check on Lyra," Noah said, "I have a bad feeling…"

* * *

"Do you know what your biggest problem is?" Kel asked as he pushed the muzzle harder into her back. "You're nothing but a flop. You have no real will of your own so you rely on others to tell you how you should feel." He laughed, "Pretty soon all your gonna feel is a musky jail cell and there's nothing that terrorist or your bratty friends can do."

"Terrorist? That's a rather unflattering label."

Lyra had never felt so relieved to hear that voice before.

Kel whipped around to see a young boy, dressed up in a hodgepodge of battle armor and torn rags. His messy blonde hair waved across his face, obscuring his eyes but still allowing his smile to break through.

When someone saw that smile, it was usually the last thing they saw…

Kel clicked off stun mode and fired at the boy, but he quickly jumped forward, rolling across the ground and springing up. He was in Kel's face before the officer could even react and he kicked his gun away.

"I've read your file," Kel said after punching the man in the face. "It's pretty expansive."

"I'm flattered," The man replied. And punched Kel back, sending him tumbling back and he fell against an overturned chair.

"You're wanted in just about every star system that's civilized. Theft, arson, plans to overthrow local governments… crime clings to you like bad breath."

The boy whipped the blood off his lower lip. "It's what I'm best at."

Kel reached to his side and drew a smaller, formerly concealed pistol.

The plasma bullet shot from the barrel and sailed towards the boy.

But the boy had drawn a black colored device and held it up, summoning a wall of stone that blocked the blast.

Kel looked at the man in utter disbelief.

"I hope you like my new toy…" He said, his eyes ignited with fury. "Because you're about to get the full demonstration."

There was a flash of light and a scream.

* * *

Noah could feel a chilling sensation crawling up his spine as he rushed up the countless stone stairs that led back to Lyra. He knew that she was up there with that officer, Kel, and he wouldn't be an easy fight.

He just hoped it wouldn't be too late to help her.

"Wait up dude!" Jake called from behind. Further still were Gia and Emma, where were carrying Jayden with the help of Axel and Rebecca.

Noah couldn't wait, not when the feeling of panic seemed to intensify by the second.

As he reached the doors he felt as if he were floating, but even that came crashing as he pushed open the wooden door.

Blood.

His eyes recognized before he even understood the scene in front of him.

Then he saw the figure, dressed up in metal garb similar to a Ranger. Only his was much more armored in appeared, with a bright red visor that sent a chill of familiar memories.

Then there was his blade, dripping crimson down its golden handle.

And Kel, staring with wide aways at his attacker.

"Get the hell out of here!" Lyra screamed.

"Gosei!" Noah yelled into his Morpher. "We need you to teleport us to the Command Center. Asap!"

The man just laughed, "Good luck getting ahold of him." He turned to Lyra. "In the meantime. We need to catch up."

Noah locked eyes with the alien woman, and for a few seconds, he could almost swear that he caught gilt in her eyes as they were teleported away.

"Come on," Gia said, looking at her old friend as he grew more and more distant by the second. "We have to make sure Gosei is okay."

"We'll follow you," Axel said.

"Um, excuse me?" Gia snapped. "This is Ranger business."

"My mom is in that Command Center," Axel said, "And she isn't picking up my calls."

Gia breathed, "Fine, whatever." and they all rushed towards their vehicles.

* * *

Verton kept running, he ran until he couldn't run anymore. By then he fell to the ground, his gills absolutely screaming.

"Going somewhere?" A voice asked from behind the blue creature.

Verton whipped around, his insides floating in ice water.

Nobody stood there, his body still and formal. "You had a mission."

"I'm sorry," Verton pleaded, "I messed up, I messed up really bad! But it was those Rangers!"

"Rangers that you said you could handle," Nobody said. "That was a part of our deal."

"I know, I know!" Verton exclaimed. "But I'll do better! I'll do whatever you need."

"That won't be necessary," Nobody said and grabbed hold of Verton's neck.

His gloved hand began to glow and explode with light.

And the blue alien never stood a chance.

* * *

By the time they reached the Command Center, everything was in ruin.

Noah felt his heart stop as he stepped in and saw the darkened lights. The team all shined their phone's flashlights across the room, capturing the carnage in blue gleams.

"Mom!" Axel exclaimed, finding her unconscious and laying on the ground.

"That's another one for the hospital," Jake said, "I'll take care of her."

"No it's fine," Axel said, "We've got it."

Axel and Rebecca carried their mom out of the Command Center, leaving Jake, Gia, and Noah alone in the dark.

"Uhh- this isn't a good sign guys…" Noah said, holding the light up to Gosei's lifeless eyes.

"Tensou too," Jake said and held the flashlight over the robotic husk, wires flying out of his torn and mangled body.

Everyone stood in tense silence.

Nobody even knew what to say.


	18. Baron's Ambition

Lyra forgot how nervous he made her. It was as if she was walking on a tightrope, and even the slightest miscalculation could cause her plummeting to her own demise.

"You know you kinda look cute like that," he said as he adjusted the controls on the ship.

Lyra looked down at her shirt, a green tee that Emma had provided.

"I'm assuming your ship is hidden?" He asked.

"Yes," Lyra said, careful to sound obedient and respectful.

"That's fine," The boy said, "We'll worry about retrieving it later." Lyra felt as the ship shifted its position, tilting upwards as it moved through space. "We have more important things to tend to."

Lyra held her breath, watching as they sailed right towards the Warstar ship.

* * *

"You useless creatures!" Malkor exclaimed as the Stingwingers appeared empty-handed.

"We cannot run a ship on empty stomachs!" Malkor said. "And that fool Vrak hadn't replenished the ship's stock in months!"

"Our synthesizer has been fairly proficient," Eezek reminded the new ship caption.

"It isn't the same!"

"I'm sorry sir," Eezek said softly. The outburst bothered him, but not nearly as much as Vrak. Malkor was a warlord, but he did care about his servants.

Even if his love was a little on the tough side.

"Maybe we can just eat the Stingwingers," Creepox suggested with an ugly sneer. "I've eaten worse in desperation."

"And I suppose you'd do all of the labor required to run this ship?" Malkor asked. "Even scrubbing the barracks?"

Creepox grew quiet, and Eezek found this to be more than amusing. The brute had tortured him throughout the entirety of Vrak's rein. The giant wound across his chest from the Red Ranger had damaged his ego, but Malkor was still the only entity that shut him up.

"You seem to be in a bit of a predicament," A voice said from the entrance to the throne room.

Eezek looked over and couldn't even believe his own eyes.

Two mere humans,

"What are you doing aboard my ship?" Malkor asked, more intrigued then angered.

"How about we just eat them?" Creepox suggested. "The female looks rather appetizing."

"Silence," Malkor hissed. "Speak, human."

"You seem to be having a bit of a dilemma," The human said. "Fresh food is in short notice, and your brute nature isn't helping. No offense of course."

"I don't appreciate stalling," Beezra said. "Either get to the point or leave."

"I apologize for my lengthy introduction," The human male said. "Let me cut to the chase. I can help you get food."

"And what's the catch?" Creepox asked.

"I want a prisoner from your ship. The one known as the Phantom Ranger."

* * *

Jayden awoke after with a rather abrupt stir. His body jolted up, each nerve ignited with fiery energy. His last memory had been in the cavern with that blue monster. He expected to be surrounded by foes.

But was instead in a hospital.

"Hey," Emma said from a chair in the corner. "Have a nice nap?"

Jayden sat up, fighting against his pounding headache. He felt a strange tug on his arm and looked down in utter bafflement.

There was a needle attached to a tube in his arm.

"What's wrong?" She asked, "Never seen an i.v before?"

"I've never really been to a hospital," Jayden admitted, "If my family got sick we had staff that would come and takes care of us."

"I didn't realize you were so isolated," She replied.

The doctor stepped into the room a few moments later. "Well, now that you're conscious you're safe to go home." She said, "We couldn't even find anything wrong with you." She handed him a stack of paperwork. "Just fill this out and give it to the receptionist."

Jayden looked at the paper and swallowed hard.

"Here," Emma said, taking the stack, "I'll help you take care of it."

* * *

Gia couldn't believe Emma had skipped class, especially so close to the mid-term exams.

She also couldn't believe she was stuck with Jake as a partner for their mid-term project.

"So what are we doing?" Jake asked.

"I already told you," She snapped, "We're gonna do a play based on the Great Gatsby."

"I know that," Jake said, "But _how_."

Gia paused, "I-I don't really know. Emma usually works out the little details."

"Well Emma is at the hospital," Jake said, "So we're gonna have to figure this out." He paused, "Speaking of that, how's Brad's mom doing?"

"Why would I know that?" She asked.

"I don't know," Jake said with a shrug, "I figured since she might be your in-law someday you might want to take an interest early."

"Ew," Gia said with a frown, "Don't say that."

"Okay, okay. Don't bite my head off," Jake said, "I was just kidding."

"Whatever," Gia said, opening up the book, "Let's just find a good part to reenact."

"Alright," Jake said, "Whatever you say, dude."

* * *

Noah sat over the lifeless pile of wires they knew as Tensou. Next to him was a notebook of notes he'd taken. He'd been racking his brain for the last few hours trying to figure out the best way to put him back together.

If fixing Lyra's device had been a challenge then this was an outright assault on his brain.

His stomach knotted up at the thought of her. He felt betrayed in a way he wasn't used to. He felt used and discarded.

In a flash of anger Noah tossed his socket wrench across the room, it hit against his wall with a hard thud.

The feeling faded, and Noah looked at the metal with disbelief. He had been well tempered his whole life, and this empty feeling was completely new to him.

He sighed and stood up, stretching his back as he went to retrieve his tool.

He couldn't shake the feeling he was at the bottom of a very steep mountain.

* * *

Cries escaped the frantic civilians as the streets flooded with monsters for the first time in weeks.

The stingwingers moved in vague packs, lumbering forward as if they were doing their best T-Rex impression. Though the civilians didn't find this even remotely amusing as they ran for their lives.

The Red and Pink Rangers appeared on the scene, firing energy blasts that plowed into the creatures and sent them tumbling backward.

"I sent out a group text to the others," Pink said, "But who knows if they'll see it."

Red dodged one of the creature's swinging arms and parried with his own blade. Jayden just nodded, without Gosei it was going to be much harder to keep the group informed. If not for them catching news of the attack on television they wouldn't have known themselves.

A stray stingwinger jumped out of a dumpster and soared towards the Rangers with its fluttering wings, but was tossed aside by a blue laser blast.

"Sorry for the delay," the Blue Ranger said, "I've been a bit busy."

"No you're right on time," the Pink Ranger replied.

"Any word from G- I mean Yellow or Black?" Blue asked.

"Nodda," Pink replied, as she shot an oncoming foe and sent a rush of pink sparks from its midsection.

"Well we should be enough anyway," Red replied, slashing with calm calculation.

Jayden watched as the other two Rangers nodded, and he took some satisfaction in their

trust in his leadership.

Because after Lyra's betrayal he wasn't so confident himself.

* * *

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Jake asked, trailing behind Gia through the street.

"Yeah," Gia said thoughtlessly.

"Well, I thought I saw a Panda Express in one of the news shots," He replied.

"So?"

"There's isn't a Panda Express on this side of the city."

"Oh…" Gia said and paused.

But before Jake could really enjoy being correct a monster trashed several cars in an aggressive fit.

Jake and Gia both paused and grabbed their Morphers. This had been the first time in a while they found more than just Stingwingers attacking a place.

"Well, well, well," a voice said from above. "I kinda figured a few of you would trickle over here."

Gia and Jake turned towards the source of the voice but were thrown off when it was only a human.

A teenager at that.

"I'm sorry," Jake said, "But who exactly are you?"

"I'm glad you asked," the boy said in a voice that both helped Jake realize who it was, and send a hard chill down his spine.

He then reached into his pocket and drew a black and gold handheld device. The device flipped open like a cellphone and the boy drew an action card.

Jake felt his insides twist as he anticipated what would come next.

He slid the card inside and the device ignited with light, an aura so powerful it completely enveloped him.

And in his place, Jake saw the armored figured that murdered Kel and destroyed the Command Center.

The silver armor glowed in the light, it's helmet reminiscent of a lion head, with a red visor that turned Jake's stomach upside down.

"Why did you attack Gosei?" Gia asked, seemingly unafraid of the warrior.

He just shrugged, "I was after this," he said with the black and gold morpher in his hand. "And he got in my way."

"Well now you've got us in your way," Gia said and loaded her morpher, "Unlike Gosei, I can fight back," she said and morphed.

The armored Ranger lifted his small pistol towards them and it blasted a powerful beam that hit a nearby car that exploded into a fiery inferno. Black Ranger was thrown back, hitting the side of a concrete building. He felt the rib shattering force, but the suit protected him from any major damage.

Didn't mean it didn't hurt.

The silver figure held up the phone like device as if he were an elderly man trying to take a photo, he aimed it at Jake and punched in a few keys after setting another card in it.

Jake watched helplessly as familiar vines ran up the building and bound him to it.

So whoever this guy was he could use their action cards.

"Watch out!" He screamed at Yellow.

Though he was pretty sure she got the message a little sooner than that when a tornado tore through the street and tossed her around like an action figure.

Yellow recovered and drew her morpher, loading an action card into it and firing a large rock towards the enemy's head. But a wall of water appeared and shot the rock away.

From behind the armored warrior, the monster returned, three card crates in its arms that poured thick mist.

"I think we've played enough," The armored warrior said and the two adversaries teleported from sight.

* * *

The teens regrouped, their spirits waned and threatened to give out. All five seemed beaten and battered in their own ways.

Noah seemed empty, his eyes lost in his full smoothie.

Gia and Jake both were physically drained. Their encounter with the armored warrior had taken a large amount of energy out of them.

Emma seemed...well Jayden couldn't exactly place how she seemed to be feeling, but it didn't look good either.

Then there was him, feeling like a complete idiot. Of course, none of these kids would have seen Lyra's betrayal, they were still naive. But he should have noticed, he's supposed to be their mentor, their guardian, the experienced veteran that can guide them on the right path.

Yet because of his own inability to see what was so obviously a threat they were now even further into the hole than ever.

"So those Stingwingers were just a ploy," Emma said suddenly. "They were to keep us distracted while that guy stole...food?"

"It's what he had," Jake said, "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Well it makes sense," Gia said, "They have an entire army to feed."

She then looked towards Noah, the young boy just shrugged, "About as good of an answer as any."

"But why was he working _with_ the Warstar?" Emma asked, "When we first met Lyra they were trying to turn her into a popsicle."

"Apparently they worked out their differences," Jake said, "They have a lot in common, being disgusting, unethical-"

"Can you stop?" Noah asked abruptly. His voice rose to a roar, causing everyone to spring up.

The teen then shot up, "Whatever, I gotta go work on some stuff."

He then walked away without another word, leaving his smoothie completely untouched.

* * *

"Alright," Baron muttered, standing in the middle of the ship as the various insectoids sloppily tore into the fresh meat. "You got your food, now it's time to give _me_ what I want."

"Not so fast," Malkor said as blood dripped down his face.

"What?" Baron asked, his face falling into a scowl.

"This is food for a feast," Malkor replied, "A feast does not feed an army for long."

"Why should that matter to me?" He asked, "I don't control how you ration your food."

"But I control whether or not you get our prisoner."

Baron was practically growling at this point. To be yanked around by… _vermin_. It was absolutely infuriating.

"What am I supposed to do? Start a goddamn farm?"

"Doesn't matter to me," Malkor said. "It's all a matter of how hard you're willing to work for what you want."

Baron whipped around, his fists balled together. He took several deep breaths, resisting the urge to grab the morpher at his waist.

He knew that even with the power of Gosei Guardian he couldn't take on every one of the insectoids at once.

With a sigh he exited the ship, he'd have to do some hard thinking if he was going to find a way to satisfy those bugs.

 **A/N: Sorry for such a long delay between chapters. Person stuff... moving... working on Jurassic Knights (go give that a read ;)) But here we are. Don't forget to review!**

 **-Shadowhenshin**


	19. The Path to Ninjor

The jungle stretched for miles, an endless world of greens and browns.

Emma was asleep. Or was she? It had been so long since the last time she knew that she couldn't even remember what the difference felt like.

She moved carefully through the strange land, passing trees and plants she couldn't identify. It was like a different continent.

Or maybe an alien world.

Eventually, she found herself in a small village, wooden huts were staged around her, carved into the massive trunks of the trees.

The place seemed abandoned, almost cold. Devices that suggested life littered the area, tools, bowls, even some daggers.

She felt a shiver go down her back as she stepped over some wooden dolls, she couldn't help but wonder what had made all these people abandon their homes.

"I'm sorry I had to bring you here," A voice said from below a large canopy. The man stood in shadows, the darkness masking his face.

Emma looked at the figure for a few seconds. His voice seemed familiar.

"I had to bring you here so that no one else could hear us."

Emma felt strangely vulnerable, this being said he _brought_ her here. Somehow she felt claustrophobic in the forest.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"In the morphing grid itself," the man explained. "Though I molded this place after the village I grew up in. It helps me hold the illusion easier." There was a twist of sadness in the man's voice.

"What do you need to tell me?" Emma asked softly. This man was hurt, clearly experiencing some sort of emotional anguish. She wanted to help him any way she could.

"I fear Gosei is going to die," The man said softly.

The words hung in the air, heavy on Emma's ears.

"He isn't merely shut down, his spirit is back inside the grid. Even further than us. He may be lost, and if nothing is done his spirit will be completely extinguished. But there is hope, because of _you_."

Emma nodded numbly, this much information was completely overwhelming to her. "What do I have to do?"

"A powerful warrior is hiding on your planet, a ninja master known as a Ninjor." The man explained. "He will be able to save Gosei."

"Where do I find him?" Emma asked.

But then the ground began to rumble, it was terrifying, more intense than any earthquake she'd ever felt before.

"Wait-wait," She said, trying to adjust to the shifting dirt. "Where?"

"Head to the Desert of Despair. Be swift."

The ground broke from under her, and she plummeted into complete darkness.

It was that she recognized the voice. She had heard him many times before, speaking softly in the back of her head.

It was also the Phantom Ranger.

* * *

Of all the people Jayden expected to find at his door at five in the morning, it wasn't Noah.

The boy seemed nervous, his eyes jumping from Jayden to the ground. His hands twisted nervously as he clinched the bag on his back.

"Hey-" Jayden said, "What's up?"

"I didn't mean to come so early," Noah said softly, "I just couldn't sleep last night."

Jayden looked at the boy for a few moments, he didn't exactly know what to say. He could tell Noah wanted something, but whatever it was seemed to be eating him alive.

"Can you train me?" Noah asked, his eyes leveled to Jayden and the former samurai saw something strange. Determination.

Jayden's first thought was to dismiss this boy. He was far too soft, too inexperienced.

Then he thought of Antonio and the look that eclipsed both of their eyes.

"Sure," Jayden said, "Come back at seven, we can run over some drills when Emma gets here."

"Um…" Noah said as he looked behind himself. "She's already here."

He took a step away and Emma stepped up. Her face was paler than normal, dark circles danced around her eyes.

Why did that make Jayden feel bad?

"I know how to save Gosei, we need to get everyone together," She said coldly.

* * *

The five Rangers all sat in the corner of Ernie's, a smoothie in front of each of them. Emma had just explained her strange dream, and silence followed as everyone discussed the information.

"So let's get one thing out of the way," Jake said. "How do we even know she's right?" His face grew red as four sets of eyes burned into him. "No, I'm just saying. It was a _dream_. We don't have anything stronger than that."

"Let's evaluate it," Noah said, "The Phantom Ranger mentioned Ninjor."

"Yeah?" Jake asked, "What does that have to do with anything? What kinda name is that anyway?"

"The name of an ally that helped the original Power Rangers," Noah said, "There's documentation of that at least."

"Well that still doesn't mean anything," Jake said, "She could have heard it unconsciously and applied it to her sleep."

"Well he also mentioned a Desert of Despair," Emma said, looking uncomfortable. "Why don't we just ask Axel's mom about it." She lowered her voice, "She was a Power Ranger after all."

The group all seemed to agree.

Expect for Gia, who groaned as he looked down at her phone. "You guys have fun with that."

"Don't count yourself out just yet," Jake said.

Gia scowled, "What do you mean?"

"We don't even know where she lives," Jake said. "And it would be next to impossible for us to find out."

"So what," she snapped, "I don't know either."

"But your brother probably does."

Gia scoffed, "You're kidding."

Jake's stare didn't waver.

"You were just saying you didn't even believe her," Gia said, "So why are you talking to me like that?"

"Well you weren't taking my side until it involved Axel," Jake said, "So get over it and text your brother."

Gia grumbled as she pulled out her phone and began to type.

 **Gia: Hey, weird question, where does Axel live?**

There were several minutes of silence, followed by a sharp bing.

 **Brad: Who?**

Gia frowned, of course, he would play dumb.

 **Gia: Idk, he goes to our school, I thought I saw you sitting with him.**

 **Brad: Weird… what do you need from him?**

Gia could feel her brother's stomach flip vicariously through the text. He'd never normally care enough about what she was doing to ask.

 **Gia: We're partners on an English project due Monday and I forgot to ask for his number.**

Another couple of minutes passed before-

 **Brad: I have his number, I think we were in a group chat forever ago or something.**

 _Or something…_ Gia read with a slow boil of anger.

Gia delivered the number, then, with all of her responsibilities carried out, she left.

* * *

"Uh-hey guys…" Axel said as he swung open the door. He blinked at them for a couple of seconds, "Sorry… this is all still super weird to me. My mom is in the living room."

The four teens all walked inside, where they found Kimberly Hart sitting at her television watching a woman's gymnastic competition.

"Seems like Axel's mom and Jake have the same taste in television," Noah said with a sideways grin.

Jake rolled his eyes as Kimberly turned towards the teens.

"So you guys have a few questions?" She asked.

"Yeah," Emma said, "I had this dream… I think the Phantom Ranger was trying to reach out to me."

"Phantom Ranger?" Kimberly asked, "Doesn't ring any bells to me, but keep going."

"He told me that we need to find someone named Ninjor to save Gosei from disappearing forever."

Kimberly shivered at the mention of Gosei, and that was when Emma noticed that Kimberly was still had a sleeve of bruises from her encounter with the boy who stole the morpher from the Command Center.

"Let me guess," She said, "You need someone to help you find the Desert of Despair."

"That's…" Emma said, feeling the air leave her chest. "Yeah, that's exactly right."

Kimberly chewed on the side of her mouth for a few moments while she thought, "I've been there a few times, but it's not like I _drove_ there. I'm not even sure it's in the same dimension as us."

"Well that isn't going to do much good," Noah said, "Without our teleportation system, which I haven't even _begun_ to fix, we don't have a way to instantly appear anyway."

"I might have an idea," Kimberly said. "But it's going to require a road trip."

* * *

Lyra wiped the dust off one of the terminals as Baron tore through the ship. His body was tense and folded, like a wild animal ready to pounce.

She knew better than to mess with him while he was in one of those moods.

Baron was a tank, a physical manifestation of an unrelenting force. But when he doesn't get his way the man devolves into a complete animal.

And that scared Lyra more than anything else did.

As she continued to wipe down the disgusting terminal her hand grazed a bottle of Andriasian ale, that Baron had found a few months prior and was saving for a "special occasion."

The bottle began to fall, and Lyra felt her heart freeze solid.

But then something happened, something that should have been impossible.

The bottle merely floated a few inches from the ground.

She looked at it in utter disbelief, as it hung as if being held by strings.

After a few seconds of shock, she realized that _she_ was causing the bottle to float.

When her senses came back to realize she realized she could _feel_ the force holding the bottle. It was like an invisible hand, holding firm.

Using that same logic she tried to move the invisible hand, imagining the bending wrist, and the stressing tendons.

And the bottle began to rise.

The bottle floated through the air, landing gently in Lyra's hand. She then placed it back on the terminal and turned around, so dazed with the confusion that everything else blurred away.

* * *

"So remind me why we're driving through the desert," Jake said in the back of Kimberly's jeep.

The driver just laughed, "I suppose you could call it an educational venture."

"Okay…" He muttered, "But what the hell does that mean?"

The jeep broke into an abrupt halt. The world around them was a wasteland, and Jayden had no idea why they'd be there.

That is until they found the wreckage.

"What was this place?" Emma asked, walking towards the sandstone style walls.

"This…" Kimberly said, her voice floaty and distant. "Used to be the Power Chamber. The Command Center of the original Power Rangers… or at least that's an oversimplification of it. "

"Well it's a dump now," Jake said. "What happened?"

"War," Kimberly breathed softly.

Jayden felt the weight of her words. Maybe even more than the others did.

He couldn't help but shiver, wondering how close the Shiba house had been to destruction.

"So what are we looking for?" Jayden asked as he scanned the ruins.

"Huh," Kimberly muttered.

"What's up?" Noah retorted.

"It almost seems like someone has already been here…" She muttered. With a hard shove, she managed to move a piece of rubble away to reveal a panel stripped of its metal and wires.

"Who would do that?" Noah asked, "And how are we going to find a teleporter in all of this rubble?"

"Well I can't answer the first question," a new female voice said to the Rangers. "But I do happen to have a teleporter."

Jayden was the first to move, like always, he whipped towards the figure in a defensive stance.

And found a blonde-haired female staring back at him.

"Am I supposed to recognize you?" Kimberly asked.

"No," She admitted, "But I know you, Kimberly Hart, first Pink Ranger. Of Earth that is"

"And who are you then?" Kimberly asked with a scowl.

"Karone, Pink Galaxy Ranger," She said and approached the Rangers. "I've been looking for you guys for a while. I need help looking for someone, but I suppose whatever you have going on can come first."

* * *

Baron was waist-deep in another tantrum, throwing whatever wasn't glued down, his eyes blazing with fury, a burning furnace of hatred.

He reached for the bottle of alcohol on the terminal, he'd been saving it for a special occasion.

He popped off the cap and began to pour the burning liquid down his throat.

Now seemed like a good enough time.

"Are you going to down the whole thing, or are you going to share?"

Baron whipped his head to the side, looking hard at the new figure standing before him. His fists clenched, he didn't know how an intruder got there, but he wasn't going to let them get away with it.

He reached for his morpher.

"Woah cowboy," The cloaked figure said, "Hold your horses."

"Who the hell are you?" He barked.

"Me? I'm just a wandering entrepreneur, looking for the next big hit."

He held his morpher out. "Tell me why I shouldn't carve you up and throw your remains into space."

"Because I know what you want, and I can help you obtain it."

Baron knew he couldn't trust this man, hell he was pulling tricks straight out of Baron's book. Yet there was something incredibly tantalizing in his voice. Something that swayed some internal part of his brain to want to comply.

He swallowed those urges.

"Is that so?" Baron asked, "How do you expect to help me?"

"You aren't thinking big enough," The cloaked man said. "Going after butcher shops, too small for those savages."

"Yeah, yeah," Baron said, "Tell me something new before I get bored and instead try to figure out how many times I can stab you before you die."

"There's a beef processing plant right outside the city," The man said. "Enough meat to stock up the entire city. I'm sure that would be enough to keep those Insectoids happy and satisfied. Happy enough to give you want you so desperately want."

"So why are you trying to help me?" Baron asked.

"As I said, I'm an entrepreneur. And I see something special inside you," The man's gloved hand ignited with dark energy and formed an action card. He held the card out and Baron grabbed.

"Dark Siege," He read, he could feel the dark energy pouring from the card.

Yet he slid it inside his pocket.

* * *

"So is everyone gonna ignore the fact we're on a spaceship?" Jake asked, "or am I the only one freaking out."

Jayden said nothing, but he had to admit, it was a rather scary experience.

"It's the Astro Megaship," Kimberly observed, "Right?"

"Yeah," Karone said, "I take you kept track of the Rangers after you left?"

"I tried," Kimberly admitted, "But it got hard after a while, they all started to blur together."

"No kidding," Karone said with a grin, "What do these kids even call themselves?"

"You know, I never asked."

She looked to the teens who all shrugged, "We hadn't thought about it," Emma said.

"Well Gosei made us Rangers," Noah said, "So what about Goseiger?"

"Absolutely not," Jake said, "That name isn't _cool_ enough."

"Then what name is cool enough?" Jayden asked.

Jake almost seemed taken back by the question, but quickly shook it off. "Umm… how about Megaforce?"

"Hey, guys…" Emma said. "Don't we have more important things to worry about."

"Yeah," Karone said shaking her head. "Where do you guys need teleported?"

"Ninjor's temple in the Desert of Despair," Kimberly said.

"Well, that's not something you hear often," Karone said as she punched the coordinates into the ship's controls. "Alright, the five if you are set."

"Actually," Kimberly said. "Just the four of them are going."

"What?" Jake asked. "You're just going to send us to a place we've never been to meet a ''Ninja Master" we've only just heard of?"

"This isn't my journey," she said. "It was just my job to point you in the right direction."

"Okay," Jayden said. "Then we're ready."

"So everyone is just fine with this?" Jake asked.

"We have to be," Emma said. "Gosei needs us and we don't have time to argue."

"Okay, okay, whatever…" He grumbled. "Just don't come whining to me when something goes wrong and our Ninjor expert isn't there to save us."

A familiar light enveloped the four Rangers and they were carried away to the Desert of Despair.

Jayden expected sand but was surprised when his feet landed hard on the stone.

He looked around and saw a wide empty room comprised of sandstone.

"Young child," a voice vibrated through the stone walls. "Your spirit smells of Shiba blood, but your body stinks of betrayal."

A figure materialized, a stern-faced Japanese man clad in red and white robe-like _Hakama._

An emblem shined on the right breast of the garb, a symbol Jayden knew very well.

"You have abandoned our clan," the man said, drawing an ancient-looking Samuraizer. "And for that, you must pay."

The man's symbol power exploded into flames, covering his body in red armor.

"I am Takeshi Shiba," the Samurai Ranger snapped. "And you will face my blade."

Confusion was still setting in as Jayden drew his Gosei Morpher and transformed. His armor forming just in time to clash swords with the opposing warrior.


	20. Echoes of the Past

Jayden couldn't believe what was happening. He jumped back, dodging the golden blade by mere inches.

Too unreal.

The man was relentless, his swordplay was light and precise, unlike anything Jayden had seen.

But that would make sense since this was the man that _wrote_ the book Jayden spent his entire life studying.

Takeshi Shiba, the first Samurai Ranger.

"You have even abandoned the family armor," The Samurai spat, "Instead you've donned the attire of a heretic."

With only one hand holding his blade, Takeshi used his free hand to graph symbol magic into the air, creating a rush of fire and heat that blasted Jayden backward.

His body hit the wall, sending him sliding to the floor with a ringing in his ears.

"I wasn't even supposed to be the Red Ranger," Jayden said, "That right belonged to my sister."

"And yet you wielded the power exquisitely," The warrior spat, he approached Jayden, pointing his spin sword right at Jayden's throat. "So tell me how you're betrayal is any less of a waste?"

Jayden swallowed hard, pulling up his Gosei Morpher and sliding a card inside.

"Comprethunder!" He screamed as a blast of lightning shot from the Morpher and forced the opposing Ranger away.

"Cheap tricks," The Samurai Ranger said, "I'd expect no different from the one who disregarded everything he was taught."

"I haven't disregarded anything!" Jayden snapped, he grabbed his sword, pulling it close to himself as he charged forward.

The boy swung down, clanking his blade against the ancient warrior's. He continued to swing, following basic kata, as rhythmically as he would when teaching the other Rangers.

The Samurai followed suit, easily deflecting each attack.

Then Jayden let go, allowing the fluidity of the blade to guide him. His hands moved through the air as if carried by a strong breeze and sliced into the samurai's armor. No sparks poured from the wound, instead, wisps of fiery energy flew from the glowing cut.

"I spent my entire life fighting the Nighlok," Jayden said, "But now they're gone, and I've continued the fight elsewhere."

The Samurai Ranger summoned a jetstream of fiery waves, but Jayden blocked them with a well-timed Defenstorm card.

"I haven't forgotten my past, I've just moved past it," Jayden said.

"You have perverted the Shiba legacy," his ancestor spoke, his spin blade swirling with flames. "Corrupted it with your own naive ideals," the sword transformed into the giant Fire Smasher zanbato. "And spit into the very face of tradition!"

The sword came right for Jayden, and despite using it his entire life, he had no idea it would hurt that much.

Smoke and fire poured from his body, as his morph flicked in and out of existence. Every inch of his body burned, the fire energy he had spent his \life mastering had betrayed him, flaying his skin raw.

Yet he mustered enough power to stand.

"Master Xandred is gone," Jayden breathed, "Destroyed by the true heir to the Shiba clan. The hundreds of years fighting, done. You don't have to hold on by a haggard thread." Jayden could feel himself losing control of his form. Takeshi raised his weapon one last time, preparing for the finisher.

"You can finally let go, and allow the clan to move forward. You don't have to be afraid anymore."

The blade froze, inches away from Jayden's head, his armor since melted away. Blood ran down his nose, and his left eye was puffy and swollen.

"Maybe you're right," The spirit said. His blade fell to his side. "It's so easy to lose one's self in a goal. It can swallow you, encompasses your entire being, and blind you from the rest of the world."

His armor flicked away, leaving the Asian face, so similar to Jayden's yet so different.

"The world may not need samurai, but they will always need warriors."

The man put his hand on Jayden's shoulder, looking him hard in the eyes.

"And you are a true warrior."

At that moment everything melted away, leaving the young boy in a new room, now accompanied by the other Rangers.

"So did anyone else just fight some freaky spirit?" Jake asked, "Or was that just me?"

"I fought a phoenix," Emma said.

"Yeah, I fought a snake," Jake said. He looked over at Jayden.

"I-uh- fought a dragon," Jayden lied, catching that everyone else fought a version of their suits motif. He wasn't even sure how to explain what he'd just faced.

"Very good!" A goofy sounding voice exclaimed, "All of you passed your trails excellently."

In a puff of smoke, a new figure appeared. His armor was large and bulky, but still similar to the Rangers.

"Now tell me," The figure said, "What the hell are you doing in my temple?"

* * *

Gia groaned as her Morpher beeped. Just when she'd been looking forward to a relaxing night.

" _The rogue Ranger has made a reappearance."_

Gia frowned, it was bad enough that _she_ was talking through the Morpher. Now she'd have to put her binge-watch on hold to get her butt kicked again.

Still, she had a responsibility.

"Where?" She asked softly as she threw her familiar leather jacket over her body.

"A beef processing plant just outside the city," Kimberly replied. "Karone can teleport you over there."

 _Who?_ She thought but didn't bother asking. "Let me get my shoes on." She said and headed to the living room.

Where Brad sat on the couch, the T.V supplying noise as he scrolled his phone.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"Out."

"Sheesh," He replied. "No need to be so testy. I wasn't trying to be nosey."

"Whatever," She said, trying to swallow the brimming venom in her chest. She grabbed her shoes and turned around.

"No seriously," He said, grabbing her arm before she could get further than the couch. "What's wrong with you. You've been weird all week."

"You're the problem!" She spat. Then felt her stomach drop.

 _I don't have time for this._

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"We'll talk later," She said and tried to tug away.

But he held firm. Even with her enhanced strength and endurance, she had to admit he was gripping pretty hard.

"Talk." He said in a voice that shook her chest.

"Brad," She managed to choke out.

She tugged again. This time he didn't hold on.

"Later." She said simply.

She then moved into her room and looked at her morpher, holding back her tears.

"Ready," She said before becoming enveloped in bright yellow light.

* * *

"Hmmm," Ninjor said slowly, concealing every thought drifting through his ancient head. "So the little rookie Gosei needs someone to pull him out of the void."

"Yeah," Emma said, the words of the Phantom Ranger drifting through her head.

"Well," Ninjor said. "If Phantom was serious enough to imprint his psychomorph onto you then it seems like you're really out of options."

"What does that mean exactly?" Noah asked. "I mean I know he was able to talk in her dreams."

"More than that," Emma said. "He's been guiding me since Vrak turned the city into Loogies."

"Much like Gosei, Phantom Ranger is a Morph Spirit captured and put into a robotic shell." Ninjor explained. "Because of that, he was able to pull a piece of himself out of his form and put it into Emma." The ninja master shook his head. "It's a very risky move. Too much Phantom Ranger and he could override Emma, not enough and he won't be able to communicate. Or worse, he could overextend himself and begin to destabilize."

"So what do we do?" Jayden asked.

"Nothing," Ninjor replied with a shrug. "Things have worked out so far. We just have to hope that Phantom Ranger doesn't get a sudden jolt of Morphing energy from an outside source." He then turned away from Emma and looked at the other three. "For now we need to focus on Gosei. To bring him back we'll need to do a similar technique, though instead of splitting Gosei apart we need a human host to become a beacon."

"I'll do it," Emma said, "I'm already connected to the Phantom Ranger so it shouldn't be a big deal."

"No," Ninjor said. "That's a big deal. Having two different Morph Spirits bouncing around in your psychomorph would destroy your entire spirit."

"I'll do it," Noah offered.

"You?" Ninjor said, "You're psychomorph is already too unstable.' He then looked over at Jake. "And his is too weak to secure a connection."

Jake and Noah both looked rather offended but neither of them replied.

Instead, everyone looked to Jayden.

"There's nobody else. So it's not like I have any choice."

"Is there anything you want to say to everyone?" Ninjor asked in a darker tone. "Just in case something goes wrong?"

Silence fell like a felt blanket, as eight sets of eyes focused on the former samurai.

"I-I just want to say…" he looked over at Emma, feeling his stomach twist into a knot. "I'm glad I joined this team."

Before he knew it Emma had her arms wrapped around him. She pulled him in, holding him as hard as her strength allowed.

And Jayden didn't understand the feeling in his chest.

But he didn't want it to end.

"You'll be okay," Emma said.

"Yeah," Jake said. "You've taken a punch from yours truly and survived. This will be easy."

Jayden nodded, feeling a strange anxiety wash over his body.

Sure he had felt fear before, slaying demons tended to bring that out. This was different though. Far to primal for his liking.

"Are you ready?" Ninjor asked.

"Yeah," Jayden said, cringing at how unsure that sounded.

"Okay," Ninjor replied. Seeming to ignore Jayden's wavering voice. "Keep focused," the ninja said as he placed his hands on Jayden's shoulders. "the longer you're in the void the greater the chance you'll get lost over there."

"Got it," Jayden replied.

Ninjor began to chant. His strange voice breaking into a hum. A language lost to the universe.

As Jayden felt a strange tingling sensation behind his eyes he realized the source of his gnawing chest.

For the first time in his life, he was scared of death.

Or, more accurately, scared of someone having to deal with his demise.

* * *

The Stingwingers grabbed several boxes of meat at a time before being teleported back to the Warstar ship. They buzzed happily, the thought of a fresh meal bouncing around their primitive skulls.

Barron paid no notice, and would just as carelessly stomp them out.

Of course, that might rile up the escort.

"I don't even know why they sent you here," Baron muttered to the red insectoid.

"Insurance," Creepox sang. "You've shown the King that you can deliver. Now I'm here to ensure you do."

Baron sighed as he watched the disgusting creature next to him examine his mandibles as if they were brand-new.

"Look alive," Creepox mused. "I smell trouble."

Suddenly a bright beam of yellow light hit the ground.

Baron smiled as he raised his morpher. "I was just getting bored." His morpher ignited with a golden hue as he rushed towards her.

* * *

Gia dodged the blade and blasted the oncoming warrior in the side. He fell over smoke rising from his smoldering armor.

"Hope your bruises from last time haven't healed," The armored Ranger barked. "Because I'm about to reapply them."

He then raised his morpher and summoned a large boulder.

Though Gia was prepared and summoned a rock wall that deflected the boulder.

"Why weren't you this feisty last time?" He asked.

"I wasn't this pissed before," Gia grunted as her claw weapon materialized in her grip. Her blades ranked against his chest, pulling sparks from the lion on his chest.

The armored warrior growled and sprang forward, his blade raised and ready to chop into Gia. But the Yellow Ranger raised her weapon and they collided with sparks.

"It doesn't matter how well you master your powers," he growled. "Because I can do everything you can plus more."

Baron summoned a blast of lightning that struck Gia's chest and knocked her out of her armor.

He then raised his morpher and summoned a jet of water that froze her legs to the ground.

Gia struggled against the ice to no avail, all the while Baron watched with she could only assume was sadistic glee.

"So what now?' He asked as his helmet melted away. "Should I crush you with a giant boulder? Should I drown you? Maybe I could create a whirlwind around you that would take away all of your oxygen." He leaned in the smile on his face; a mask of pure venom.

"Get away from me," she spat.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "There are women all over the galaxy that would kill to be in your place."

"I could be from a planet of garbage eating slug monsters and I wouldn't want you this close."

"Ouch," Baron muttered. When Gia attempted to push him away he grabbed hold of her wrists with bone-breaking force. "I'll just have to soften you up a bit first."

"Fat chance, creep." a voice proclaimed from behind the warrior. Sparks erupted from his back as he fell forward.

Gia looked over and to her surprise found herself staring at Kimberly Hart with a futuristic blaster in hand.

"Thanks for the lend," she said into the headset she was wearing.

" _No problem,_ " The other female replied. Through the comline.

Baron growled and summoned a bolt of lightning, but Kimberly easily dodged it and fired into him again.

"You may have snuck up on me last time," She said, "But let's see how you handle a fair fight."

The warrior drew his blaster and fired a few stray shots at Kimberly, but she quickly found cover behind a large piece of equipment.

She then popped up, fired a few more shots, and ducked again.

"What the hell are you-" Gia exclaimed as the realization hit mere moments after.

Kimberly was buying her time.

Gia pulled out her morpher and slid her morphing card inside of it.

Baron caught up to Kimberly, rage painted across his face. "I'm going to do what I should have done the first time we met," he growled. "And dismantle you limb from limb."

Gia fired into the armored warrior's side and got his attention.

"Oh yeah, I forgot we were fighting," he muttered.

"Maybe I can jog your memory," she said and slashed her claw weapon across his chest.

"Alright, that's enough of that," Creepox said and jumped at the Yellow Ranger, slashing her in the chest with his scythe-like appendage.

"What are you doing?" The armored Ranger asked.

"Making sure you stay on track," The insectoid grunted and grabbed hold of Baron and they both teleported away.

The entire room grew quiet, and Gia looked to Kimberly.

"You're welcome," Kimberly said and dusted her clothes off before turning around.

"Why'd you come to help me?" Gia asked. "You don't even have powers."

"You needed help," Kimberly said. "It's just what I do. Zordon taught us to help everyone, regardless of our opinions. I wish Gosei had passed on that sentiment."

And she teleported away without another word.

 **A/N: For those looking for more consistent updates from me I'd suggest checking out my Jurrasic Knight series since that's where most of my attention is currently**


End file.
